Health and care services

Linking GPs and hospitals

healthlink The National Healthlink Project provides a web-based messaging service which allows the secure transmission of clinical patient information between hospitals, healthcare agencies and GPs.

Technology has a central role in achieving increased efficiencies in delivering healthcare. This is recognised in the 2013 HSE National Service Plan which has the objective of creating a public health service that is leaner, more efficient and better integrated to deliver maximum value for money and respond to public needs. The importance of continuity of service delivery in the context of significantly reduced staff numbers is also recognised in the plan.

“Healthlink has been the cornerstone for many of the HSE ICT initiatives over recent years,” explains project manager Gemma Garvan. “In 2014, Healthlink has been involved in enabling the transfer of electronic correspondence to and from GPs for the National Integrated Medical Imaging System project, the National Cancer Control Programme initiatives and the National Cancer Screening Programme. We are also involved in the planning stages with the National Medical Laboratory Information System project and the National Maternity and Newborn System.” Healthlink has a proven track record in delivering IT solutions to GPs and hospitals and is the natural means by which the HSE chose to extend its communications with GPs when introducing new IT systems.

Technology in General Practice is already quite advanced and is enabling GPs to benefit from their use of technology to become more efficient and to integrate their practice with hospitals. Healthcare is fast catching up with other industries such as banking in their use of information technology to improve service and lower costs.

The National Healthlink Project is a key project in using technology to link GPs to hospitals. The project provides a web-based messaging service which allows the secure transmission of clinical patient information between hospitals, healthcare agencies and General Practitioners. The project has been in operation since 1995 and has developed considerably since that time to its current status as national messaging broker.

The Healthlink team work in partnership with government boards, professional organisations and software vendors to meet the electronic communication requirements of primary and secondary care in Ireland. Healthlink services bring significant benefits and efficiencies to General Practice and have the potential to create a noticeable difference to administrative work and to greatly reduce the waiting times for patients.

The National Healthlink Project is funded by the HSE and all our services are free of charge to GPs. We have recently begun working with private hospitals and clinics – costs are involved for those organisations who operate in the private healthcare sector.

GP Messaging

Healthlink’s core remit is to provide a messaging service that allows patient information to be securely transferred between hospitals and General Practitioners. Over the years we have expanded the range of messages sent to GPs though laboratory and radiology results remain the most popular.

Hospitals vary in terms of the information they make available to us. However, the full list of messages is as follows:

• Laboratory results

• Radiology results

• A&E attendance notifications

• Inpatient admissions

• Death notifications

• Discharge notifications

• Discharge summaries

• OPD appointment updates

• Outpatient clinic letters

• Waiting list updates

• Out of hours co-op messages

• Cardiology reports

• Lab orders

• Referral messages

Lab Order

Healthlink and the Mater Hospital Lab were the first in Ireland to offer GPs and practice nurses the ability to order blood tests online, replacing the manual order form. This service is also available to GPs ordering from St James’s Lab. The benefits to the General Practice include:

• Eliminates manual completion of order forms;

• Pre-populated list of patients which reduces the need to key in patient demographics;

• Calculates number of specimens to be included with order;

• Electronic record exists of all orders placed; and

• Improved turnaround time for orders and results.

The benefits to the laboratories include:

• Receive complete, fully legible orders;

• Emergency contact number and clinical details on all orders; and

• Receipt of calculated number of specimens reducing the need to split specimens.

General Referral

The general referral service is being introduced into hospitals following the successful pilot in the South and AMNCH. It has potential to streamline the processes both for GPs and for hospitals and this will ultimately be of benefit to the patient.

Once all hospitals streamline their referral processes, the electronic general referral service can be made available for use by the GPs. Phase 1 of the project is to allow for the electronic transmission of referrals from the GP system into the hospital’s central referral office. Phase 2 should allow hospitals to see the benefits of the service in terms of efficiencies.

The project is only seeing a fraction of the potential benefits as the system is not fully automated into receiving hospitals’ IT systems. Another pilot referral service for GPs is being developed as part of a project with the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.

It is expected that this will deliver full integration of the referral into the hospital information system and provide the full benefits of the service not just to the GPs but also to the hospital.

Cancer Referrals

Healthlink in conjunction with the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) and the GPIT Group have developed electronic referrals from accredited GP practice software systems to the eight specialist cancer centres.

Key aspects of the service:

• Breast, prostate and lung referrals live;

• Forms are based on the NCCP hardcopy form and have been formally approved by the ICGP Quality and Standards Committee;

• Pigmented Lesion referral is in pilot in St Vincent’s, St James’s, Roscommon County and South Infirmary Victoria Hospital;

• Referrals are generated from within the patient file and are delivered to the cancer team who will respond within five working days;

• Acknowledgments are available immediately indicating if the referral has been successfully delivered;

• Responses from the cancer team are integrated with the patient file providing a complete record of the referral/response process; and

• The accredited practice software systems are Socrates, HealthOne, Helix Practice Manager and CompleteGP.

Neurology Referrals

Our Neurology Referral service was launched in December 2006 following a six-month pilot with a group of St Vincent’s GPs. The service allows GPs direct online access to Consultant Neurologists for initial diagnosis and advice as to whether their patient should attend in person and/or what tests should be completed prior to meeting the Neurologist. With only 20 Neurologists in Ireland and waiting lists of around two years, this system has already proven to be hugely beneficial in cutting down unnecessary visits and waiting times as well as reducing administrative duties for healthcare staff. Also, the quick response from the Neurologist helps alleviate anxiety on the part of the patient.

The referral form, in replacing the standard referral letter, was designed to be quick and easy to use. The form itself is based on a series of drop-down menus to capture details of the patient’s presenting complaint, medications, family history, examination findings and past neurological attendances. There is ample free-text space also for the GP to enter comments or observations that are not captured elsewhere.

Neurology referrals are currently available in the following hospitals: St Vincent’s, St James’s, Limerick Regional Hospital, Cork University Hospital, Waterford Regional and St Luke’s in Kilkenny.

The Healthlink project has progressed throughout the country. Customer satisfaction is very high among GP users, who clearly see the benefits of the system in their daily work.

Supporting healthcare in Ireland

August 2014
48 Live hospitals
1,354 GP practices
3,258 GPs

For more information please contact Gemma Garvan, Project Manager, National Healthlink Project.
Tel: 01 882 5606
Email: ggarvan@healthlink.ie

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