The first community pharmacists in south east London can now access the London Care Record, supporting them to provide effective, safe and joined up care for the communities they serve (24 July 2024).

Earlier this month the first 13 pharmacies in south east London were connected to the London Care Record, which is a single and secure view of a person’s health and care information across different parts of the NHS and social care.

It helps ensure frontline staff have the information they need about a person when they need it, to inform their decision-making, and includes any conditions which a person has, their test results, medicines, allergies and plans for their care and other useful information, such as hospital discharge summaries.

These community pharmacists can now access the London Care Record via a secure link in their pharmacy system known as PharmOutcomes, making it quick and easy to find the patient information they need. This will save them valuable time by reducing the need to call GP surgeries or hospitals as they can now access the information in the London Care Record.

This is important because in addition to administering medications community pharmacies provide a range of other services such as vaccinations. Under the Pharmacy First initiative introduced earlier this year pharmacists can also offer treatment and some prescription medicines for certain conditions including shingles and urinary tract infections. Access to more complete patient information in the London Care Record will support pharmacists in providing this care.

These initial connections are part of a wider rollout of London Care Record access to all community pharmacies in south east London. These community pharmacists join around 25,000 health and care staff in south east London, and around 100,000 across the whole of the Capital and some of its neighbouring areas, who use the London Care Record each month. Only staff involved in a person’s care are allowed to access the information.

Gursaran Singh Matharu, Superintendent Pharmacist, Chair-Community Pharmacy London and Chief Executive Officer Community Pharmacy South East London, said:

“Access to patients’ London Care Record is an important step for patient safety and community pharmacy integration. Community pharmacists are providing an increasing number of NHS primary care clinical services in their pharmacies, and this access is welcome to ensure patients receive the appropriate treatment plan.”

Neil Karia (PG Dip GPP PGCert IP CEPIP), Superintendent Pharmacist at Medica Pharmacy, said:

“In order for community pharmacy to truly integrate into the primary care framework and deliver high quality and safe clinical services, there was a desperate need for a deeper level of clinical patient information being made available to us.  Access to the London Care Record gives us a wealth of information which now allows us to see vital information such as recent blood test results, diagnostic test results and hospital clinic letters too.”  

Angela Poland, Associate Director of Digital Programmes at South East London Integrated Care System, said:

“Here at South East London ICS we are committed to playing our part to realise the full potential of the London Care Record so even more people benefit from the joined up care it supports. It is great news that we have now given the first community pharmacies in this part of the Capital access to this important tool and I would like to thank everyone involved in this project. We look forward to rolling this out more widely over the coming weeks to support even more pharmacists in their important work and to ensure even more residents benefit.”

You can find out more about the London Care Record here.