The NHS’s best kept secret …. (shush) .. yes, it’s YOU!
Have you ever gone to your GP for a checkup and realised that they had no idea about the life changing surgery you had last month?
Or been to a clinic in the hospital and realised that the doctor has skated over the fact that you have a deathly allergy to the medication they have just prescribed?
The answer why this all happens may surprise you.
Primary care (GP) and secondary care (hospitals) operate very different systems, and you can almost think of them as two different secret services; with your personal and health data being the vital information that each of them are trying to protect.
The NHS = 2 secret services
Your data is kept secret so securely, that not only is it often ..
- Kept secret from you (despite it being your own data!),
- But they are kept secret from each other.
This is because each individual GP practice or hospital uses a different computer system entirely – meaning that data can’t easily be transferred from one system to another.
An example of potential confusion and error
This is why things like being discharged from a hospital ward can take so long (often 8 hours!).
Before you can go home, the doctors need to make sure that you have a supply of all of the medication (that is usually changed in some way) that you need; and that a copy of what has happened to you (called the discharge summary) has been sent to your GP.
This is because it may be very difficult for your GP to see all of the tests, investigations and results that you have had whilst you were in hospital.
But it does not mean your GP will have changed your longterm medication (on your NHS app, or let your pharmacist know) and/or read the discharge and acted on any things for them to do in it.
Oh yes. Do different hospital systems link up? Or your hospital to your pharmacist?
No way. That would be far too helpful.
And no, your GP and hospital consultant do not know each others numbers or email addresses.
What can I do to help? (keep good medical records on yourself)
In fact, the only commonality between different healthcare settings is you. So you need to keep good medical records. Don’t ‘trust the system’. Don’t presume computers are connected .. or anyone can easily talk to anyone.
So next time you go to a hospital appointment, or your GP (or anyone) changes your medication, make a note of it (and who you have seen and how to contact them); and bring that information along next time you have an interaction with any other healthcare professional.
You may be providing vital information that would otherwise have to be found by a Sherlock Holmes-level investigation from the people in charge of your care.
[“We are very sorry for all this confusion. Yes, it should have been sorted years ago”.
MyHSN Ed]
