The software, designed to send patient notes electronically between practices when patients move areas, has now been installed in 2,000 practices after its national launch in June 2007.
The system not only automatically picks up when a patient moves practices and transfers the records but it also flags up if the patient needs a medication review or any allergies or reactions to medication in the past.
Recent evaluations of pilots in Gateshead, County Durham, and the Isle of Wight found the time spent summarising new records had, on average, been halved using the new system.
Dr Agnelo Fernandes, a GP in Croydon, south London, who started piloting the system in his practice over a year ago, said in that time they have not had any problems with the software.
‘Our administration staff are very pleased with it and from a clinical perspective it makes things much safer. In the past we could have been waiting months for the records to get to us with no idea about the patient’s history.’
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