A greater number of ambulance clinicians across South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) can now access more detailed patient information at the point of care, helping them make faster, more informed clinical decisions and ensuring patients receive the right care first time.

From this week, all SECAmb clinicians are now able to access the Kent and Medway Care Record (KMCR) via the Trust electronic Patient Clinical Record (ePCR) to help guide their decision making while assessing Kent and Medway registered patients.

The system, which contains key information from hospital trusts, community and mental health providers, social care teams and GP practices, is now available alongside national system, GP Connect, which allows authorised clinicians to view important patient information such as medication, allergies and recent consultations recorded on the system by a patient’s registered GP.

Direct access to the systems improves the quality and safety of patient care and means ambulance teams are less reliant on having to contact GP practices or clinicians in the Trust’s emergency operations centres or clinical hubs to check information.

With a more complete picture of a patient’s health, clinicians can ensure patients receive the most appropriate care for their condition first time and reduce the number of avoidable hospital journeys.

Rollout of the systems forms a key part of SECAmb’s clinically-led strategy and the NHS 10-year plan to increase digital capability. It supports SECAmb’s ambition to develop a future model that links with the Trust’s shared care records and integrates with the National Care Record System as a single access point for clinicians.

The Trust-wide rollout follows the early adoption phases at Ashford and Paddock Wood which has saw clinicians access the system to aid their assessment on more than 3,500 occasions in two months from the end of April. In the same period, GP Connect has been used by clinicians to guide their decision making on approximately 90,000 occasions since it was rolled out across SECAmb.

Ashford Paramedic Gary Turley said: “Having KMCR and GP Connect access while we’re with patients is a real positive. It’s helping me make more informed decisions about a patient’s treatment plan and onward care. Patients cannot always remember their medical history or the detail of their condition so having access to these records enables us to see if how they’re presenting is something new or a chronic condition and can help us establish if a hospital admission is required or if a GP referral is more appropriate.

“I’ve also used the systems to review a patient’s medication, as we can’t always find prescriptions and some patients have their own pill box where they put their daily medication and throw away the original boxes.”

SECAmb Shared Care Records Clinical Manager, Michael Whitcombe said: “To have KMCR available to all clinicians along with GP Connect represents another positive step forward in increasing access to shared care records and I’d like to thank our partners at the KMCR team for their support in taking this forward for the benefit of our patients.”

“Access to the KMCR and GP Connect enables our clinicians to gain a richer understanding of a patient’s medical history, helping them make more informed decisions at the point of care. This improves patient safety, reduces unnecessary hospital journeys and supports more joined-up care across the NHS.”