QUESTION: KIS Access

I’m a GP at a Practice in Edinburgh. I am involved in a SEA for a patient who had a KIS which unfortunately was not followed by the paramedics and nursing home.  I was under the impression that paramedics have access to the KIS – is this correct? 

Also, is it possible for nursing homes to have access to KIS summaries – currently they are reliant on the GP printing out the summary each time it is updated, which can cause patient safety issues as they may not have the up to date info.

ANSWER:

Thank you for contacting us about this important issue. We have considered this and have had the fortune of consulting with the current chair and previous chair of the Emergency Care Summary board. In relation to your questions: 

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) can access Key Information Summaries via the ‘Terrafix’ terminal present in SAS Cabs. Paramedic controllers in SAS call centres similarly have access. Work has occurred with the aim of amending SAS systems to alert crew proactively to the presence of KIS/PCS data, SAS are aware of this issue and looking to solve this.. Currently, if there is a KIS recorded, the system can display it if the crew request the relevant data page through Terrafix.  

It is however necessary to make certain that the KIS written in general practice is actually shared, Vision and EMIS, the two current providers of GP-IT software in Scotland have different ways of performing this. It would be worth double checking in this instance that the information was shared from the primary care end.

Also, is it possible for nursing homes to have access to KIS summaries – currently they are reliant on the GP printing out the summary each time it is updated, which can cause patient safety issues as they may not have the up to date info. 

Nursing homes are independent care providers and currently don’t have a standardised electronic system. A ‘Digital Approaches Care Home Group’ has been established last year by Scottish Government/Technology Enabled Care to look at ways Digital could improve care delivered in care homes. There are information governance and technical issues to overcome but these are not are insurmountable. 

I have written to the Chair of the Digital Approaches Care Home Group outlining that a GP practice in Edinburgh has requested nursing homes have access to KIS summaries and asked them to kindly consider this.  They are considering this and the best way to proceed. 

Dr Chris Weatherburn                                                                                                                       Interim Clinical Lead Primary Care Informatics