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With healthcare in Wales on the brink of a revolution in medicines management, we speak to the leaders of the Shared Medicines Record (SMR) about the development of world-class technology to consolidate and share patients’ medicines records.
Led by the Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio, the ambition is for this to be the first Shared Medicines Record (SMR) in the UK and Europe to include data from primary and secondary care, dentists, community pharmacists, optometrists, and other care providers, making patient records available where and when they are needed across Wales. The ambition is to build as complete a picture as possible of a person’s medication and allergies history.
Technical testing is now underway to make sure data can be shared safely between NHS Wales national systems and the clinical computer systems used by GPs and hospitals.
Roll out of the first phase - sharing data between GPs and hospitals - will begin later this year. This is linked to the implementation of electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) across NHS Wales hospitals and will start with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
While NHS Wales has made great progress in using digital to enable better care, medicines information has not always been part of this digital transformation. The complex nature of care provision means that medicines and medication records may be locked within computer systems or in hospitals held on paper, meaning vital information does not always follow the patient.
With the introduction of the Shared Medicines Record, medicines information will be held centrally and will be accessible to all healthcare professionals, regardless of location or care setting. Clinicians will be able to read and to easily update the records online, reducing errors and improving patient safety.
Rhian Rice, Chief Technical Architect for the SMR Programme, said: “We know that medicines information does not always follow the patient, particularly around the transfer of care between providers. I know of one patient with diabetes and kidney failure who takes 21 different drugs. He receives care from specialist services in three different health boards and must constantly repeat his medicines regime and allergies on each visit.
"For this reason, he handwrites the list and hands it to the clinician who is treating him. He must be reminded to update it when any changes are made. He is surprised clinicians don’t have this information at hand when he’s being treated and is always nervous about being prescribed penicillin, as he has a severe allergy which has resulted in a reaction several times while being treated in hospital.
“In future, this won’t happen as all the information will be available at the point of care.”
Keith Farrar, Senior Responsible Owner for the SMR Programme, said: “Accurate medicines records are critical to patient safety, with electronically linked records creating a comprehensive medicines record. The Shared Medicines Record will make an enormous difference and will help to transform care. This really is groundbreaking for medicines management and will be world-leading when we integrate data from other providers, such as dentists and opticians.”
The Shared Medicines Record is being developed in collaboration with Digital Health and Care Wales’ National Data Resource initiative, which is creating a new platform to bring together information about health and social care services across Wales.
Benefits of the Shared Medicines Record include:
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Enhanced patient safety, with clinicians and pharmacists having secure, timely access to patients' medicines, allergies and intolerances, and reducing transcription errors.
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Reduction in transcribing time, as clinical data is made available and shared electronically.
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Empowering patients in their health care by giving them secure access to their record via the NHS Wales App.
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Supporting NHS Wales research as medicines and allergy data is made available.
Rhian Hamer, DMTP Director, said: “Our work is focused on making healthcare better for everyone in Wales. Use of the SMR will have a massive impact and make care safer. Giving staff the tools and information they need when looking after people at their most vulnerable will help to deliver services that are more streamlined and joined-up.”
Hamish Laing, Portfolio SRO, added: “Much of what we are doing in DMTP, whilst really important, is to bring Wales in line with other nations. The SMR project, however, will put Wales in a leading position for medicines information and is attracting much attention.
“The SMR is at the centre of a comprehensive medicines data ecosystem that we are creating, using data and information standards to allow medication and allergy information to flow seamlessly between systems and be stored for analysis and insights. This will reduce errors, ensure the information is available to clinicians whenever they need it and future-proof our investment in hospitals and primary care for the future.
Photo: Rhian Rice, Chief Technical Architect for the SMR Programme
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