Digital Primary Care

Digital systems are the foundation upon which we will build a modern, efficient and responsive health service. Enabling information to flow between care providers within and beyond organisational boundaries, and between care providers and patients, is a key means by which we will achieve a safe, convenient and personalised health and care service.

GP IT systems sit at the heart of primary care technology facilitating and recording millions of interactions with patients every week. GP practices have led the way in the move from paper to digital record-keeping and are now well on the way to offering online transactions, such as appointment bookings and repeat prescriptions, across all practices in England. Since April 2015, all practices have been required to offer patients access to online GP services. Latest data shows that 15.1 million people are registered to book their GP appointments, order their repeat prescriptions and view their health records online.

In a challenging financial environment, IT services must not only improve the quality of care through enhancing the patients’ experience of services, but also enable the practice to realise efficiency benefits such as a reduced administrative burden. Building on the solid foundations which are already in place in primary care, NHS England will support practices to develop IT functionality which responds to the evolving needs of patients and underpins integration across care pathways.

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