In England there are two main systems suppliers for GP computer systems – emisWeb and SystmOne.  The practice I work for currently uses emisWeb, however in our local area we are in the minority; nationally we are in the majority.

There is often talk of how great it would be if we were all on the same system – whilst I agree this would achieve some short term advantages I think what we should be saying is:

We should all be on the same data 

What I mean by this is that we should be separating data from applications.  Ideally we would have a situation where common data standards and a hosted database should be the back end, ideally hosted by NHS England.

This would then allow the users of this data, e.g. Patients, GPs, Hospitals, Ambulances, Dentists, Out of Hours, Pharmacies, Commissioners, Federations and any of a host of other users of the data would have appropriate access to this data.

Why?

•  to have shared data with the ability to choose the best of breed or specialist front ends
• to allow end users to use applications that they want to use
• to increase competition for more innovation and better value for money
• to ensure patient data is freely shared for the purpose of providing the best care possible

How?

I don’t know and it won’t be easy to achieve, not only are there technical issues to resolve there will be Information Governance hurdles to overcome, the concerns of patients and users.

But conversations are starting to happen – it’s not just me who is suggesting the split of data from application.

In primary care both SystmOne and emisWeb are approaching the latter end of their life cycle and I sense a disruptive change is coming.  Hopefully we can use this as a chance to re-define health informatics for the 21st Century.