The main way we are joining-up patient data in East London, is through Cerner’s Health Information Exchange (HIE), which enables a complex network of organisations from across the health and care system to access the East London Patient Record (eLPR), made up of 1.5 million residents. We work with our partners, Bart’s Health Trust and North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), as well as a network of GPs in North East London.

How does it work?

This system integrates data from multiple electronic health and care systems to provide a real-time and read-only summary of that data to a health or social care professional when required for the purpose of a patient’s direct care.

The care provider can see relevant parts of the patient’s clinical record; this excludes certain sensitive data items and is role-based – for example a doctor sees different information to a health care assistant or a social worker. Each role sees only the information relevant to the direct care of the patient.

What are the benefits?

In East London, HIE has saved 9,400 hours of clinical time per year, saving an estimated £940k annually.

A single shared record spanning the whole of London that provides an accurate, complete picture of a person’s health and care from over time and across organisations.

Service users who cross ICS borders in London will always receive the best provision of care possible, with the relevant data made available to all the health and social care professionals involved in their care.