Two councils and a clinical commissioning group (CCG) in Kent have launched an integrated health and social care record.
NHS Kent and Medway CCG, Kent County Council and Medway Council have jointly launched the Kent and Medway Care Record (KMCR).
The KMCR will provide health and social care professionals with access to clinical records and data in real time via secure access to deliver coordinated care across the region. Information will be shared between acute NHS trusts, ambulance services, community care providers, GP practices, and mental health services in healthcare, as well as the adult and social care teams at Kent County Council and Medway Council.
KMCR is part of Kent and Medway councils, along with the local NHS providers becoming an integrated care system, an accreditation awarded in April 2021 following the group forming a sustainability and transformation partnership (STP) in 2016. The aim of STPs is to create patient-centric services rather than systems that suit organisations.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has backed the introduction of STPs, but with reservations on the "enormous pressure on STPs to deliver savings...plans were focused on finances, not care," BMA said following an analysis of the outlook.
Drive to integration
"KMCR is underpinning our drive to integrate citizens' records across health and social care," said Dr Navin Kumta, clinical chair of Kent and Medway CCG.
The CCG said the increased data sharing would improve the quality of clinical and professional decision making, and deliver improvements in care for patients.
In the longer term, the region hopes KMCR will be opened to the patients themselves, providing 1.8 million citizens with access to their own patient records.
KMCR was deployed to the council and care partners by Cantium Business Solutions, an HR, IT and financial services provider to the public sector.
Image from iStock, LeoWolfert
