Canterbury Patient Portal to be launched
Katie Verd
Canterbury people are a step closer to having a patient portal for making doctor appointments online, ordering repeat prescriptions, checking test results and sending private messages to their general practice.
The Canterbury Patient Portal, an initiative co-sponsored by Pegasus Health and the Canterbury District Health Board, is moving into the next phase.
The project is currently about to enter the formal procurement process to select an appropriate vendor.
Katie Verd, Programme and Product Manager, has been working on the Canterbury Patient Portal initiative for eight months. She says that while about seven practices in Canterbury are using a portal, most patients in Canterbury can't access their medical records easily or quickly.
She hopes the Canterbury Patient Portal will be ready for primary care providers to use in early 2016, which will initially provide online General Practice appointments and repeat prescribing, and that by mid 2016 half of all practices in Canterbury will be using a portal of some kind.
Future stages could see the availability of secure messaging between patients and health providers, and access for patients to their lab results.
Katie says the portal will benefit both patients and health professionals by keeping patients informed and aware.
"People can't take responsibility for their own health without the appropriate information. The portal will arm them with the right knowledge to take care of themselves and their families, with the support from health care teams."
For general practices, the portal will free up time spent on the phone making appointments and ordering repeat prescriptions.
The portal will be made available to practices that are members of Pegasus Health, Christchurch PHO and Rural Canterbury PHO.