The latest development for Leeds Care Record will provide GPs a single view of their patients that have been admitted to a ward across Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust sites called “Virtual Ward”. It assists care professionals in understanding what is happening to their patients whilst they are in hospital. It will also help to manage the patients they are directly involved with when they leave hospital to return home or back to the community.
The Leeds Teaching Hospital team have built on the experience gained after creating an electronic whiteboard for the wards, in order to provide additional benefits to care professionals and their patients across the city. The Virtual Ward for Leeds Care Record helps the patients’ journey from being discharged from hospital to going home run more smoothly by providing joined up the information to GPs.
The Virtual Ward will let GPs know which ward and bed their patients are on to avoid ringing around. It allows GPs to provide more proactive care and to plan for discharge whilst being able to see aspects of their patients care.
The virtual ward will display the key pieces of the patient’s information, for example:
- the consultant and their speciality
- expected length of stay
- what is required for the patient to be discharged from hospital
- expected date of discharge
- discharge plan status
- plan for transfer, for example, if the patient requires transportation.
Dr Chris Mills, GP from Rawdon Surgery, explained, “The virtual ward development for the Leeds Care Record has really helped my practice prepare for our patients being discharged from hospital. With one quick simple view I can understand where patients that I’m directly involved in caring for are and what their likely needs will be when they return to the community.”
You can choose not to have a Leeds Care Record. It is your choice but sharing your care information through a Leeds Care Record will make it easier to provide the best quality care and support for you. If you have any doubts about your records being shared you can talk to the information governance team at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Their telephone number is 0113 20 64102.
For further information visit leedscarerecord.org or follow us on twitter @LeedsCareRecord
