Make shared care records work for urgent and emergency care (Digital Health, January 2024)

Summary

Expecting paramedics to wade through shared care records is unsafe and inefficient. In an emergency, access to essential information has to be easy and fast, writes Claire Jones from NHS England South West.

Whilst ambulance services may need access to the entire longitudinal record, it is imperative that in those first vital minutes of an emergency they have the most pertinent and relevant data at their fingertips. In such cases, information sharing can be a matter of life or death. We should make it as easy as possible for emergency care providers to access and view relevant information about the person in their care.