 What does being eMPOWERed actually mean?
On the 11th August 2008, a group of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres patients met to hear from other patients, Dr Amir Hannan (Haughton Thornley GP) and Dr Richard Fitton ( Caldicott Guardian
for Tameside & Glossop PCT) about the benefits most, if not all patients can gain from having better access to health information including access to their own medical records. The discussion included patient experience of the recently introduced Practice website.
At Haughton Thornley we describe these individuals as eMPOWERed patients and if you take a look at the video recordings of the meeting, we hope you will understand why.
Please note: the video & audio quality is not great as the meeting was recorded using domestic video recording equipment. However, we feel the content is so powerful that we have decided to make this freely available to the website with the express permission of all those taking part.
There is no need to download the videos as you can just play them directly from the site. You can also increase the size of the video to ful screen (although there is a reduction in the quality of the video). You can also move the slider to forward the video if you like.
An introduction to the meeting from Dr Amir Hannan - GP, Haughton Thornley Medical Centres
Dr Hannan describes the programme for the evening. In particular he describes 8 attributes of a patient-centric healthcare system as described by the Picker Institute and then goes on to describe what he believes are the 4 critical factors (4 Ps) for success which are Patients and the Public, the Partnership of Trust as well as the Paradigm Shift in Healthcare.
Medical Record Access for the patient
Yvonne Bennett describes 4 different patient experiences. She describes 2 patients who did not have access to their electronic health records and the problems they had as a result including one patient who took 20 years to get the correct diagnosis as a result of a "mistake" in her record. She also decribes 2 other patients who did have access to their electronic health records and how it helped them to save time and help them get better care as a result. She also describes HealthSpace
and what patients can do with that to help them take control of their own health. It is 11 and a half minutes long.
Medical Record Access for all the family
Sheila Caldecott, a patient at the Practice, explains how having access to her own record gives benefits to her and to her family. One key aspect of this is how access to Health records can help young people in learning about how to look after their own healthcare. Her presenttion title is MUM and it is approximately 9 minutes long.
How I became an eMPOWERed Patient and how you can too!
Margaret Rickson explains how having access to her medical records has transformed her relationship with care providers. Mrs Rickson also explains what benefits there are for her in terms of convenience in ordering repeat prescriptions online, saving travelling time and using Healthspace and EMIS Access to book and manage her appointments. As an empowered Patient and member of the Practice PPG (Patient Participation Group), the discussion then reveals how a Warfarin clinic was brought 'in house' saving countless hours travelling to local hospitals. The presentation is approximately 7 minutes long.
How to become am eMPOWERed patient – Dr Hannan
Dr Hannan takes a tour through the Practice website that was launched in July this year. The site provides a comprehensive set of local and national health information resources, all of which are relevant to patients of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres and which are also endorsed by your GPs. We describe this as the 'Gold Standard' for accessing information relevant to your health and we always invite patients to recommend additional resources which they believe will be beneficial to fellow patients within our community. We do not endorse any external websites particularly those not managed by the NHS but reognise that they may still offer useful alternative information which patients and the public could benefit from. You should always raise any issues you may have with your clinician for further clarification if you have any doubt. You should also be able to raise issues with the author of the website too - how else are they to learn otherwise from your wisdom! Nobody is perfect!
From our website patients can access Practice online services including:
- Ordering repeat prescriptions
- Booking appointments online to see your GP
- Full access to the GP-held Patient Health Record
There are a range of Practice Services that patients can peruse at their own leisure and general health information and links to relevant information held within NHS Choices
as well as NHS Direct
If you are reading this then you and your family can now access all the information described in Dr Hannan's presentation.
Information Governance - Your Health Record - How we use your information to help you
Dr Richard Fitton - GP and Tameside and Glossop PCT Caldicott guardian describes the groundbreaking work done by your Practice and gives a prentation on the general area of Information Governance which is vital for the privacy and confidentiality of individual citizens. Dr Fitton's presentation is approximately 18 minutes long. In the presentation he describes the PCT approach to managing patient information; Your Health Record - How we use your information to help you
(links to Tameside & Glossop PCT).
Questions and Answers
See what our eMPOWERed patients asked following the presentations. One patient asked how they could find out about how best to manage “hypermobility syndrome” as an eMPOWERed patient? It could have been back pain, asthma or an eating disorder or any other condition or it might be something that you may be at risk of. The answer shows that the eMPOWERed patient can begin to understand how to do it with the help of the clinicians whom they trust and their own understanding of their health. The video is 46 and a half minutes long so make sure you have a comfortable chair to sit on and a cup of coffee to drink - this is the new way of learning at home at a time that is convenient for you! Enjoy! This is Real-Time Digital Medicine!
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