Even Patients Can Do IT…

09 July 2012

Cartoon taken from www.mediclicks.net

Yvonne M Bennett

Patient & PPG Secretary

of

Haughton Thornley Medical Centre

… now is that I.T. or ‘it’ The answer is both We use I.T. as a tool to do ‘it’ The ‘it’ – is to manage our own & family health Self care doesn’t mean NO care If we suffer from asthma, drug addiction, cancer

etc We can be educated in managing the condition by

our healthcare professional There are 8760 hours in a year and we need to

look after ourselves and family for 8756 of those

Patient Perspective

Being an active partner in the doctor/patient relationship

A relationship based on trust Having choices Help the clinician to help me by having all

information available to hand NOW Being a Happy Patient! To do all this we need access to our medical

records

Our Practice Websitewww.htmc.co.uk

How do we get access to our records?

What can we do with access?

We can order repeat prescriptions We can check previous medications We can make appointments We can also cancel appointments

We can check results We can check x-ray reports We can read letters We can print anything we think may be of use e.g.

medication list, blood results

Results

Letters

Photographs

A photo showing an operation scar with a possible infection

A photo showing a leg ulcer This can be monitored to see how the scar is

progressing

The Advantages

Doctor/Patient relationship. Take an active role in your own healthcare together with the doctor

On Holiday Seeing a Consultant in a

hospital outside the area Receiving care in the

community Family members living in

another part of the world Emergency Time – repeat prescriptions,

appointments, results, letters,

Disadvantages

Forgotten History Bad News Abnormal Results X-rays 3rd Party Information Might not agree or like with

what’s been written about you

Might be feeling worse than before

Problems being solved Children

parent access until 10years and then discussions between child, parent & GP

Nursing Homes Dr Amir Hannan from Haughton Thornley Medical Centres Dr Benjamin

Brown, Sarah Thew, Professor Iain Buchan from this University

Established a Local Care Records Board To deal with any complaints

“Grey areas” 3rd party data Foreign-speaking patients Learning difficulties / memory problems Coercion in the home / domestic violence

The Accident - 2011Ambulance & A & E visitPre-op assessment & operation8 Visits to Fracture Clinic

8 Letters8 appointments at GPs8+++ telephone calls

Patient = 11hrs for apptts/40 mins telephone Doctor = 8 apt @ £25 = £200 NHS saving Other Patients benefit from 8 extra appointment

Self care – not NO care!

If you are living with a health condition, or just want to learn how to look after yourself better, visit www.htmc.co.uk and look at the self care section. Remember the website is

Thank you for listening

yvonneb288@googlemail.com

http://www.htmc.co.uk