A new online health record for use in out of hours care is available for patients registered at one in three (147) Welsh General Practitioners (GP) practices. This means that nearly 900 000 Welsh patients are benefitting from the IHR. From April 2011, a further 79 practices will come on line, bringing the total to 229, with full coverage across Wales due by the end of 2011.

The £4.7 million (€ 5.26 million approx.) Welsh Assembly funded service links GP practices with their local out of hours service. It allows out of hours doctors to view online, with the patient's permission, a copy of the information on the medical record held by the patient's GP.

This information is used to make vital decisions about the best care for the patient and improves patient safety. When patients are unwell and make contact with the out of hours service they don't always have details to hand of their current medication, allergies or any adverse reactions.

The new online record has been developed by the National Health System (NHS) Wales Informatics Services, in partnership with a number of private suppliers.

A leaflet with information about the IHR is distributed to each household in each region before the record goes live. There is also information available from NHS Direct Wales and a dedicated IHR website.

Note: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.

Further information:

• Original News Article - NHS Wales Informatics Service
• IHR website
• NHS Direct Wales