Unconnected GP and hospital IT systems threaten patient safety, colleges warn

GP practices and hospitals operating on separate and unconnected IT platforms represents a risk to patient safety, the Welsh RCGP and Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have warned.

The two colleges have called for an end to ‘fragmented’ services that leave patients ‘facing delays, confusion and avoidable risk’, in a joint briefing to improve integration between primary and secondary care and deliver better outcomes for patients across Wales.

The document said that primary and secondary care operating on two different IT systems creates a ‘real risk’ that ‘important results or updates are missed’, as well as wasting doctors’ time.

It pointed out that current IT systems are ‘outdated’ – with doctors telling the colleges that IT systems that ‘don’t talk to each other’ are ‘the biggest barrier’ to safe patient care.

The briefing said: ‘Primary and secondary care continue to rely on separate platforms – EMIS Health in general practice and the Welsh Clinical Portal (WCP) in hospitals – with no reliable mechanism to alert GPs when new information is available on the WCP.

‘This creates a real risk that important results or updates are missed and wastes valuable clinical time navigating two unconnected systems.’

They also found that while some GP practices are experiencing a ‘digital revolution’, this progress is ‘uneven’ and national strategies have so far ‘failed’ to prioritise interoperability between primary and secondary care.

Among other recommendations (see box), the colleges said that the Welsh Government and NHS Wales must develop digital infrastructure that supports integrated patient pathways.

RCGP Cymru Wales chair Dr Rowena Christmas said: ‘General practice and hospital medicine are two sides of the same coin.

‘GPs hold risk and complexity in the community every day, but too often our separate systems, contracts and IT keep us apart from hospital colleagues.

‘By prioritising shared pathways, realistic models of care for people with multiple conditions and genuine patient involvement, we can reduce pressure on services and improve care close to home.’

RCP clinical vice president and vice president for Wales, Dr Hilary Williams, said: ‘Patients get the best care when the NHS works as one team.

‘This report shows that clinicians in Wales are already leading innovative, integrated services – but we need national support to spread what works, invest in digital tools that join the system up and give doctors protected time to train and lead together across traditional boundaries.’

Earlier this year the NHS safety investigation body found hospitals’ failures to send patient information electronically to GPs led to patient harm.

‘Vital information’ about diagnoses, medications and necessary follow-up care is ‘often delayed’, incomplete ‘or missed altogether’, leading to incidents of patient harm after hospital discharge, according to the Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB).

It cited Pulse’s award-winning investigation into hospitals failing to send more than 700,000 patient documents to GPs, which uncovered that clinical information was not passed and acted on as a result, causing a threat to patient safety and increased GP workload.