Integrated Care Records Service will be delivered in phases

The Integrated Care Records Service (ICRS) at the heart of the NHS National Programme will be delivered in phases from December 2004 to December 2008, according to confidential documents leaked to Computing.

Each delivery phase will focus on specific functions to be up and running by a given deadline. The paper gives the first clear roadmap of how and when the Department of Health intends to deliver the service.

Phase one functions, to be delivered by 31 December 2004, are predominantly view-oriented, says the document:

• Clinicians including GPs, hospital doctors, community health staff and mental health workers will be able to email, browse internet/intranet sites and view basic clinical information such as lab and x-ray results for their patients.
• One third of hospitals will support electronic x-rays.

Delivery will be via a combination of existing systems and new ICRS-specific technology, depending on the IT in a given community.

Phase two, to be delivered by December 31 2006, is predominantly active and interactive:

• Clinicians will have access to a more comprehensive patient record including specialist results, GP prescribing history, hospital discharge summaries and clinical documentation.
• All referrals, requests and orders will be electronic.
• All hospitals will support electronic x-rays.
• Extra confidentiality and security features will be added.

Further phases up to 2008 will deliver a comprehensive, community-wide patient record with support for care pathways and appointment scheduling across different NHS organisations and inpatient and outpatient prescribing in hospitals.

Health communities will be grouped into three bands, says the document. Group A will need the standard ICRS technology implemented immediately. Group B can use their existing systems to deliver phase one but will need the standard ICRS solution for phase two. Group C have existing systems that can deliver phase two but will migrate to the standard ICRS solution by 2008.