Family doctors to get access to patients’ hospital records online

An online tool for patients and doctors will further integrate family doctors into the healthcare system available on the MyHealth platform.

Health minister Chris Fearne said family doctors will be integrated into the system to ensure better contact between community and private clinics, and government facilities.

“Efforts to do so have been ongoing for some time with an online health system allowing patients to see health related information online instead of going through hospital,” Fearne said.

Some 50,000 patients and over 100 doctors use the online portal to obtain blood test results, X-rays, medical notes, vaccination records and other medical information. “Doctors are finding it very useful,” Fearne said. 

Now doctors can also use the MyHealth portal in their private practice to order tests and see results. “This increases efficiency and reduces the effort for patients. Eventually doctors will be able to input patients’ clinical history into the system, which means increased continuity of care,” Fearne added.

The latest addition to the MyHealth portal gives participating doctors the lists of tests ordered, their status and patient details.

Public health consultant Hugo Agius Muscat said the platform already has over 10,000 monthly users and 270 registered doctors, the majority of whom are GPs.

In future, the system will allow orders for X-rays, cross-border health data sharing consent, access to medical imaging and personal health records to be made by smartphone or tablet.

Family doctor Philip Sciortino said the system helped doctors focus on patient needs. “The buzzword for GPs is ‘continuity of care’,” he said, explaining that it is harder today as patients have much more information spread out between various medical professionals. “This tool is to help the wellbeing of patients. They deserve that if something happens in hospital, their GP should be informed. This tool will strengthen the potential of the GP service.”