A message on behalf of the Dental Team:
Dear Dentists/Practice staff
NHS Digital has developed a national Summary Care Record (SCR) containing details of patient records extracted from GP systems across the country. As a minimum they include current medications, allergies including details of bad reactions to medicines. Details of long-term conditions, significant medical history, or specific communications needs, are also included by default unless the patient have previously informed the NHS that they did not want this information to be shared. During the COVID-19 pandemic the patients’ COVID-19 status has also been included.
NHSE/I commissioned Vantage Diagnostics (Rego/DERS provider) to provide an automated interface to the SCR provided by NHS Digital. This work was undertaken across all regions where DERS is used as the referral management system. This interface will seamlessly add the relevant content of a patient’s SCR to their referral as a PDF. This will assist you in ensuring the relevant medical history/medications for a patient is included in the referral you make for the patient. read You do still have to complete the fields which relate to medical history and medication as this feeds into the algorithm which determines where whether the referral meets criteria for Tier 2 or Tier 3 treatment. However the additional information from the SCR with assist the receiving performer/provider in undertaking the appropriate treatment of the patient based on the information shared. It may also reduce the numbers of queries about medication being sent back to referring GDP’s from performer/providers in Tier 2/3.
Viewing the SCR
1. The SCR is only visible upon patient consent within Rego. All interactions are logged for audit purposes.
2. In the first instance, as SCR will appear as a pdf, users will still need to input key medical information into the fields.
3. As there is a search for the record, users may experience a slight delay (a few seconds) before seeing the form when generating the referral.
4. The content of the SCR may vary pending on whether there is a shortened or extended record supplied by the GP.
The key anticipated benefits will be:
For referrers:
• Richer information on their patient / safer triage
• Less correspondence needed with providers
For providers:
• Reduction in triage time
• Greater confidence in treating patients
If you have any queries, please use the chat function within DERS in the first instance.
