Use of My Health Record to support repatriation

SMICS and GRICS undertook a local project to examine the opportunities and barriers of using My Health Record (MHR) to support continuity of patient care.

SMICS and GRICS engaged clinicians at Wonthaggi and Latrobe Regional Hospital to review information sharing for referral between metropolitan hospitals and regional centres. Results indicated that currently, the use of the MHR platform is not being optimised for information sharing between health services and it does not provide enough information for the purposes of repatriating oncology patients. There are inconsistencies in terms of the information that is uploaded to MHR, access to MHR, and the regularity of uploads across health services. Buy in for the adoption of MHR for information sharing generally exists at health services, and current new initiatives undertaken at both a federal and state level should add further to an improved uptake and use of MHR in oncology.

The pilot project included delivery of an all-day cancer education program to 26 allied health professionals located in the Gippsland region, to help further facilitate the repatriation of patients from metropolitan sites. Mapping of local allied health services available in Gippsland for returning cancer patients was also completed.

For further information contact SMICS@monashhealth.org