Looking Through the Lens: how innovative education and technology have transformed eyecare in Scotland
Implementing digital technology to bridge communication between community and clinical settings was on the agenda at the NES Annual Conference last month.
The ‘Looking Through the Lens’ session explored how innovative education and technology is transforming eyecare in Scotland. This included a look at how the National Digital Platform (NDP) has enabled open source software OpenEyes to be integrated within NHS Scotland’s clinical workflow.
Dr Alistair Ewing, Senior Product Manager at NES Technology Service explains:
“The National Digital Platform connects the underlying OpenEyes product with the NHS Scotland ophthalmology service to provide the the national Ophthalmology Electronic Patient Record (EPR) that can be accessed and updated at the point of care, wherever that happens to be - in a hospital or community setting or even at home.
“Practitioners can log in to the EPR using their NHS Scotland credentials, so there’s no additional passwords to remember. And the EPR fits into the clinical workflow by displaying clinic lists and appointments directly to clinical users.”
Dr Paul Cauchi, Consultant Ophthalmologist with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and clinical lead for the Ophthalmology Electronic Patient Record Programme for Scotland said:
“The EPR technology brings all the information about a person together in a single place which means that we can make quicker clinical decisions on the appropriate patient care.
“For example, patient eye measurements can be taken in a community optometrist setting and then reviewed by clinicians in the hospital who will then decide if that patient needs to be seen in person at hospital.
“That’s the power of the EPR, the sharing of patient data allows us to more efficiently treat people where they are.”
May, 30 2024