Our Health Information Technical Standards team has developed two new information requirement standards to support the introduction of electronic patient summaries and electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) in Ireland.
The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy lists the implementation of electronic patient summaries together with the electronic prescribing service as one of the 10 key strategic actions that underpin the Sláintecare vision.
The national standard on information requirements for a national electronic patient summary in Ireland will define the information required to ensure healthcare professionals have access to the most relevant, up-to-date and useable clinical information in situations such as emergencies and out-of-hours care.
The National Standard on information requirements for community-based ePrescribing will ensure that prescribing and dispensing information can be shared electronically between prescribers and pharmacists rather than in paper format. ePrescribing costs less and takes less time than processing the same prescriptions manually.
HIQA’s information requirements outline the minimum set of data that needs to be recorded for ePrescribing and an electronic patient summary, such as a patient’s demographics, health condition, current medications, allergies, procedures and vaccinations.
To develop these standards, HIQA consulted with the eHealth Standards Advisory Group, reviewed international and national evidence and best practice, and held a public consultation, focus groups and interviews with patients, general practitioners, and other healthcare professionals. The standards have been approved by HIQA’s Board and will be submitted to the Minister for Health as advice and published shortly.