As part of the Northern NSW Local Health District commitment to the Winter Strategy for 2018 the NNSWLHD has shared valuable patient admission information with its partners, the local general practitioners who were involved in keeping vulnerable and at-risk patients safe last Winter.
GPs who participated in last year’s Winter Strategy received encrypted admission data for the patients they registered in 2017. This type of information sharing was a first for the LHD and has since been followed up with another round of data sharing.
The second phase of admission data that was extracted was not limited to only Winter Strategy-registered patients as in phase 1, it captured any patient with a correctly nominated GP who was admitted to an LHD facility for the entire year of 2017. This was shared with the nominated GP.
This data has been used by many enrolled Winter Strategy 2018 practices to identify their Winter cohort, aiding the registration process and ensuring the right patients are being serviced.
The data was delivered by the LHD, by hand, securely stored on encrypted hardware which was password enabled and uploaded in the presence of LHD staff. The LHD staff doing the transfers were able to spend time in each practice and gathered feedback as they went. Some of the positive comments received from the General Practice staff was that this was “relationship building” and “great to see collaboration across services”. Another advantage of hand-delivering the data was the ability to update and answer any queries about other LHD initiatives enhancing Integrated Care for our patients.