The Department of Health and Social Care are supporting a decision made recently by GPs on the Island to upgrade their current patient IT system in October this year.  The new system, called EMIS Web, will improve efficiency in patient care within GP Practices and help to deliver the Department’s vision of having ‘the right patient, with the right record in the right place’. 
 
All the GPs are in agreement that the upgrade to EMIS Web is in the best interests of patient care in the Isle of Man, and will progress the Department’s aim to make full use of innovative information technology to improve health and social care services.
 
The new system will enable Doctors and Nurses at GP Practices to have efficient access to the most appropriate and up-to-date patient information at all times, helping to deliver improved patient care. 
 
The introduction of EMIS web will enable GPs to share appropriate clinical data with other clinicians where it is lawful to do so, for example with the Manx Emergency Doctor Service (MEDS), a hospital out-patient clinic or for an attendance at Accident and Emergency.  In the future the system could enable enhanced online services for patients, including booking appointments.
 
The upgrade requires all GP patient data to be held securely in the UK by EMIS.  This is a change from the current arrangement where patient information is held locally by Isle of Man Government Technology Services.  At present only patient demographic information, such as name, address, GP Practice and NHS number, is encrypted and transmitted to the UK where it is held securely on a separate system called the UK NHS Spine.  This EMIS system upgrade will not lead to more information being held on the ‘Spine’.
 
The GPs will remain in complete control of access to patient data for patients within their own individual GP Practices and EMIS will not be able to grant anyone access to patient records.  The upgraded system will be fully compliant with both Data Protection and Privacy legislation.
 
Further information for all patients is available for download here.