Two of Dorset's adult hospices – Lewis-Manning Hospice Care at Poole and Dorchester-based Weldmar Hospicecare – have joined the Dorset Care Record.

The Dorset Care Record (DCR) brings all a patient's health details together so health and social care staff can give them the best possible care. It is a new, confidential computer record that joins up different information to create a more comprehensive and up-to-date record about patients

The hospices, which offer free of charge specialist palliative nursing care to people with life-limiting illnesses, will now be able to receive the most up to date information available from health and social care organisations across the county.

They will also be able to provide end of life care information which will be useful for other DCR partners.

Hospices in Dorset take patient referrals from different sources – hospital, GPs or community healthcare professionals. Often these are complex cases as patients have tended to move around the health and social care system in the months leading up to hospice care.

It is often challenging for hospices to get all the relevant patient information from different health and care organisations, so having read-only access to the DCR will enable them to have a comprehensive understanding of the patient's medications.

Peter Gill, senior reporting officer, said: "Shared care records are key to the efficient delivery of effective care and I am delighted that we now have two of Dorset's hospices receiving information and inputting data through the DCR."

Director of clinical services at Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, Hayley Bonner, commented: "The opportunity to be part of this partnership will expand our current patient experience and continues our commitment to put patients, carers and their loved ones at the heart of everything we do.

"We want to ensure our patient's healthcare journey is as smooth and efficient as possible as it can be an extremely tough time for the people and families who are living with a life-limiting condition."

Director of clinical services at Weldmar Hospicecare, Caroline Sweetland, added: "We sometimes hear from patients and their families that they have to repeat their story to a number of different professionals involved in their care.

"Sharing information on the Dorset Care Record is brilliant and will really help with the coordination of care for patients and families. This is a great step forward."

More than 5,700 trained staff can use the DCR and over 1.5million patient records have been accessed during the lifetime of the shared care record.

For more information, visit https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/dorset-care-record/