HEALTH and social care organisations in Dorset have been awarded £1.35million to create a new patient data sharing system.

The money for the Dorset Care Record (DCR), which will bring together information held at hospitals, GPs and councils, has come from NHS England’s Integrated Digital Care Fund.

Currently the county’s services use a number of different computer systems to hold health records, meaning patients often have to tell their story each time they see a different provider. The DCR, which will be based on a secure computer network and have an opt-out facility, will bring together information including diagnoses, prescriptions, blood tests, X-ray results and hospital discharge letters.

Dr Forbes Watson, chairman of Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The DCR will create a combined record that can be looked at wherever a patient or client is being treated. Everyone will be on the same page and so there will be a much more seamless delivery of care.”

A similar system is already in place in Hampshire with plans also afoot in Wiltshire – giving the potential for shared information when people move across county borders.

There is also the longer term possibility of extending the system to share data with other approved health and care organisations such as hospices.

Borough of Poole leader Cllr Elaine Atkinson, who represents her own council as well as Dorset County Council and Bournemouth council on the Better Together programme, which is bidding to integrate health and social care services more effectively, said the system would make a big difference to providers.

“They will have a much better chance of preventing avoidable health problems, reducing hospital admissions and ensuring people receive exactly the right kind of care and support they need, wherever they need it,” she added.

Better Together director Harry Capron said: “We are all looking to work more closely together, to make more efficient use of public money and deliver a better, more joined-up service to the public.

“The DCR represents a giant step towards that goal.”