Golden Jubilee Hospital goes live with patient portal

The Golden Jubilee National Hospital is piloting a patient portal from Orion Health that could lead to improvements in the way it engages with patients.

A national resource for Scotland, the Golden Jubilee is helping to redefine the concept of the public hospital, with a vision of ‘leading-quality research and innovation’ for NHS Scotland.

Initially, 40 pulmonary hypertensive patients attending the Scottish Adult Congenital Cardiac Service (SACCS) were invited to take part in the pilot.

The portal will now be rolled out to more patients following successful completion of the two-phase pilot at the Clydebank hospital.

The pilot is a result of a strategic partnership between the Golden Jubilee and Orion Health, which has provided a clinical portal for the hospital since 2011.

We expect to see many more healthcare organisations developing services that use technology to strengthen engagement with patients and populations over the next few years

Sally Smith, head of eHealth at the Golden Jubilee, said: “We are continually looking for new and innovative ways of improving the services we provide to our patients.

“With a vision of leading quality, research and innovation, we are delighted to be leading the way with the patient portal, which is the first step in allowing patients to get more involved in the care they receive.

“Patients will be able to access valuable information about their condition and can share this with relatives, carers, or other clinicians to improve the care they receive.”

The Scottish Adult Congenital Cardiac Service (SACCS), based at the Golden Jubilee, supports patients living with congenital heart disease. These have long-standing conditions and, on occasion, may require admission to their local hospital, where the doctor treating them may not have access to all relevant and up-to-date information on their condition.

By accessing the portal, patients will be provided with a summary of their clinical records and related hospital appointments, allowing them to share this information with other clinicians.

The patient portal will deliver efficiencies, improve patient experience and potentially reduce the number of tests and investigations that patients need to undergo.

Smith said: “In the next phase of the pilot planned for later this year, patients will be able to upload their own information and complete documents, such as follow-up questionnaires.

The development of the portal not only aligns with the Golden Jubilee’s eHealth ambitions, but with wider policy to provide citizens of Scotland with new ways of engaging with local and national health services

“It is hoped that by providing the patients with access to online questionnaires prior to and after surgery, we will further improve the service for this group of patients.

“The development of the portal not only aligns with the Golden Jubilee’s eHealth ambitions, but with wider policy to provide citizens of Scotland with new ways of engaging with local and national health services.”

Orion Health vice president of engage solutions, Richard Fraser, added: “The evidence from our customers around the world is that the next wave of investment in healthcare is going to be in patient and citizen engagement.

“We are excited to support the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in becoming one of the first organisations to engage patients in the management of their care through digital platforms.”

And Colin Henderson, vice president of EMEA at Orion Health, said: “We expect to see many more healthcare organisations developing services that use technology to strengthen engagement with patients and populations over the next few years."