Practices get cutting-edge technology to share patients’ photos

A new service will allow GP practices in Solihull to cut diagnosis times at the click of a button if a pilot is extended.
 
PhotoSAF Sharing, powered by the Consultant Connect app, allows GPs to take clinical photos with the patients’ consent and share it with other clinicians, helping them to make quicker decisions on patients’ health.
 
 
In less than a minute, GPs can take a picture of the patient and share it with other clinicians, with the patient’s data being safely stored in Consultant Connect’s cloud.
 
Consultant Connect CEO Jonathan Patrick said: ‘[PSS] is Information Governance (IG) secure and GDPR compliant because all photos and notes are tethered to the patient’s NHS number and stored together with all advice in our secure cloud.
 
‘This means that, if the patient ever requests a copy of their data, for it to be deleted or transferred to another area, this is easily done in line with GDPR requirements.’
 
Secretarial or administrative staff at GP surgeries can also access the portal and transfer the patient’s information into their clinical notes.
 
Initial stage
 
The service is being piloted across five practices in Solihull, serving a population of around 40,000, to help GPs get dermatology advice from other clinicians or GPs with special interest in their area.
 
NHS Solihull CCG senior commissioning manager Pat Phillips said: ‘This solution is efficient, simple to use and was quick to set up.
 
‘The benefits for both clinicians and patients are potentially huge and we can see that there are multiple ways that it can be used.’
 
Faster communication
 
The service has been hailed by one of the five practices practice managers who is taking part in the initial rollout as a service that will enable faster communication between the practice and local health services.
 
Richmond Medical Centre practice manager Becky Shewring said: ‘[PSS] will save time for clinicians, as decisions can be made much quicker and fed back to the district nurse, providing evidence that can be saved to the patient record indefinitely.’