Records case study: Community pharmacies accessing the Dorset Care Record ShCR system

Community pharmacy owners in Dorset are able to access health and social care records through the Dorset Care Record (DCR). The DCR is a local shared care record, part of the wider Shared Care Record programme.

Background

For many years, primary care professionals — including community pharmacists — have created electronic records of their work with patients. Earlier plans for a single national NHS record have changed. The NHS Long Term Plan now focuses record interoperability across Shared Care Record projects and other record systems.

Shared care records bring together information from several care settings, such as GP practices and hospitals. This means they include more detail than the NHS Summary Care Record. In future, we hope pharmacy IT systems will be able to show medicines information from shared care records, and that professionals across all care settings will be able to share relevant information through them.

Community Pharmacy England and the Community Pharmacy IT Group (CP ITG) encourage pharmacy owners and LPCs to take part in shared care record and ShCR work in their area.

What is the Dorset Care Record?

The DCR includes records from hospitals, GP practices, local authorities and Dorset HealthCare. It contains more information than the NHS Summary Care Record Additional Information.

Community pharmacists in Dorset can now use the DCR to gain a fuller picture of a patient’s medical and care history. This means patients do not have to repeat the same information many times, and pharmacy teams have better visibility of medicines information.

Benefits

Community pharmacy teams can use the DCR to:

• get an indication of medicines adherence before talking with a patient, helping to improve consultations and service delivery;
• support patients after they leave hospital;
• check blood results to help guide safe and effective medicines conversations;
• make more informed decisions when considering an emergency supply;
• understand why a medicine was started when this information may be missing elsewhere; and
• carry out another check if medicines have changed, helping ensure the patient receives the correct medicines.

Community pharmacy is the first sector outside acute hospitals, community hospitals and social care to gain access to the DCR. Dorset Local Pharmaceutical Committee has been closely involved in supporting this work.

Reflection on community pharmacy access to the DCR

Robin Mitchell, Victoria Park Pharmacy, Dorchester:
“Access to the DCR provides community pharmacists with detailed information that complements other sources such as the Summary Care Record. It is especially useful after hospital discharge or during minor illness consultations. A welcome resource.”

The Chief Officer at Dorset LPC said:

“We are pleased that community pharmacies can access DCR. It supports integration with local health and social care and helps patients make the most of their medicines and manage long term conditions.”

The DCR Senior Responsible Officer said:

“We are introducing discharge medicines into DCR from Dorset County Hospital. This will be particularly beneficial for community pharmacies.”

Advice for pharmacy owners within Dorset

Community pharmacies in Dorset have received details on how to connect to the DCR and obtain login credentials. Pharmacy owners can learn more via:

• Dorset LPC’s DCR webpage
• the Dorset Care Record website
• the DCR project team

Further information

Find out more about record‑sharing projects and opportunities to get involved:

• Shared Care Records (ShCRs)
• Electronic health records
• Community Pharmacy England’s list of local and national record projects

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For more information on this topic please email it@cpe.org.uk