latest

North London Mental Health Partnership adopts personal health record

Mental health patients in North London will use the platform to access their own data, view appointments and track their symptoms

Home / Latest / North London Mental Health Partnership adopts personal health record

29th August 2024 about a 3 minute read
“We’re delighted to expand our relationship with Patients Know Best across all the mental health services we provide in North London, and see the further benefits this will bring our service users, their carers and families in accessing their information in a more timely, convenient and accessible way.” Sarah Wilkins, chief digital information officer, North London Mental Health Partnership

The North London Mental Health Partnership (NLMHP) has gone live with a personal health record (PHR) and a patient engagement platform.

The partnership, a collaboration between Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, introduced the PHR at the end of July.

By implementing the PHR and the patient engagement platform, NLMHP hopes to:

  • Identify mental health deterioration earlier in service users to prevent the need for inpatient crisis treatment
  • Enable mental health service users to share their medical history in their own words, preventing the need to repeat their mental health history to new professionals or teams treating them
  • Improve patient engagement and satisfaction through sharing personalised pre-emptive guidance
  • Reduce the administrative burden on professionals through the use of digital assessment questionnaires
  • Make direct cash-releasing savings and reduce did not attend (DNA) rates by sending correspondence digitally

The patient engagement platform will be used to share information, such as appointments and digital documentation, with service users. It will also incorporate interactive tools such as questionnaires, shared care planning, symptom tracking, a personalised digital library of resources and device integration.

Consistent service user experience

North Central London integrated care system (ICS) has already integrated the Patients Know Best platform with the NHS app for its own patient population. This means that current and future users will be able to use their NHS login to register for, and access, their personal health record from within the NHS app.

The two trusts involved in the partnership are due to merge, creating a new trust, North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT), which will be established from 1 October this year.

Patients Know Best has said the implementation of the PHR will provide a consistent service user experience across the partnership, which will continue seamlessly once the merger is complete.

Sarah Wilkins, chief digital information officer at NLMHP, said: “We’re delighted to expand our relationship with Patients Know Best across all the mental health services we provide in North London, and see the further benefits this will bring our service users, their carers and families in accessing their information in a more timely, convenient and accessible way.”

The NLMHP is hoping that, by sending correspondence digitally, the platform will improve did not attend (DNA) rates reduce administrative burden on staff.

Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, chief executive and founder at Patients Know Best, said: “NLMHP’s digital patient strategy is driven by service user needs and PKB is excited to be part of their journey to facilitate this.

“We are delighted to expand our programme of work in a mental health setting across North London, providing a truly integrated approach to sharing healthcare data with citizens.”

NLMHP signed a three-year contract with Patients Know Best in May 2024.

Patients Know Best also has contracts with three London-based integrated care systems (ICS): North East London, North West London and South East London.

FCC Insight

North London Mental Health Partnership’s decision to roll out a personal health record and patient engagement platform is likely to be welcomed by both service users and NHS staff. The software will make it easier for patients to access appointment information, track their symptoms, share personal histories and view helpful resources. Staff will be able to share information with patients much more easily and efficiently, and identify worrying symptoms, enabling them to intervene before a patient reaches crisis point. Assuming all works smoothly, the implementation will provide tangible benefits for patients and staff as well as improving operational efficiency. Many will see personal health records such as these as a useful test run for a wider implementation of a national digital health record scheme throughout the NHS, as recommended in a recent report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.