From January 2023 patients at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) are being invited to access a new online portal, providing patients with their Personal Health Record designed to make it easier for them to view information relating to their care and interact with their healthcare professionals.

Commenting on the project, Dr Zia Din, Deputy Medical Director & Chief Clinical Information Officer said: “Patients Know Best is designed to give patients and everyone involved in their care easy access to a more comprehensive health record. Over the coming months this will include the latest information on treatments and care plans.

“The patient can share this information with their GP, pharmacist, family members, carers, or anyone else that is supporting them. This will improve patient experience and quality of care.”

The portal, provided by Patients Know Best (PKB) is the world’s largest personal health record, contracted to support nearly 20 million individuals access their medical records safely and securely. The Trust have chosen the portal to provide a secure online space for patients to access hospital letters, appointment details and a library of health resources, to enable them to track and self-monitor their health and symptoms.

Further benefits of using the portal include:

• Viewing your medical information which will include emergency department, inpatient and outpatient visits.
• Tracking and monitoring symptoms and accessing resources specific to you, added by your healthcare team.
• Access 24 hours a day whether you’re home or abroad.
• Keeping a health journal to help you remember the important points to discuss with your clinician.

All of these features and information can be accessed, once a patient has registered, via the PKB website or directly within the NHS App.

Heidi Poole, Deputy Director of IM&T and Project Lead said “This system will provide efficiencies in our clinical pathways, for example it has the potential to reduce missed appointments through the notification capability”.

On top of this, the portal enables patients to share their up-to-date health record with health professionals, as well as with a family member or carer, so that they can be helped to manage their appointments, medications and symptom management.

Anyone who has been a patient with the Trust over the last two years will receive an invitation to register, either through the post, via email or by text and new patients will continue to be invited as they are referred to the Trust.

UHNM joins over 20 Trusts, including their close neighbours University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, as well as many Trusts across London, Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Humber and Cheshire already using PKB to support their patients with better digital access to information.

“After working with neighbouring regions and organisations of UHNMs, Patients Know Best are delighted to support deeper connections across these organisations for the benefit of the patients and the professional teams coordinating their care. UHNMs vision for their digital patient strategy is ambitious and we are pleased to have taken the first steps with them on this journey, with increasing excitement for the future phases.” Sally Rennison CCO

You can find out more information about the online patient portal, including how to register, ’ on the Trust’s website.