The HSE’s Clinical Lead in ePharmacy, Brid Ryan, is clear about the value of the feedback and insights brought by patient partners involved in the National ePrescribing Project. Patient advocate Bernie O’Reilly, Patients for Patient Safety Ireland, and Pat Power, are two of the patient representatives on the project. They were among a number of patients to respond to an expression of interest circulated for patient representatives through the HSE National Patient Forum.      

Giving their feedback on many aspects of the project is at the heart of what they do at online project board meetings, face-to-face meetings, as well as taking part in other ways of engaging like online questionnaires and workshops.

Benefits

The benefits of ePrescribing include reduced medication errors, increased transparency, efficiency gains and increased patient medication awareness. The HSE is currently planning the implementation of a National ePrescription Service.  This will accept, store and transmit ePrescriptions and dispensing records. It will connect GPs, community pharmacies and patients initially, and then other prescribers and pharmacies. The project is about developing a trusted source of ePrescriptions and dispensing information. This will provide convenience and choice for patients. It will enable more informed treatment decisions and ensure continuity of care by sharing medicines information with healthcare professionals, and it will further reduce the risk of transcription errors.

Outlining his role as a member of the project board, Pat Power explains that he “attends the meetings where everyone has their say. It all leads to improved outcomes. People throw in new ideas and it definitely improves the whole process.’’    

Bernie O’Reilly, Patients for Patient Safety Ireland, explains that they are “not there to rubberstamp things. We’re not even there to pat people on the back for things that are going really well. We have a role to bring shortcomings to people’s attention and to make healthcare more efficient and safer for people. The saying is that it takes a village to rear a child. I think it takes a whole community to make our healthcare as good as it can be for everybody.’’

Brid Ryan stresses that they would “encourage other HSE services and projects to involve patients at an early stage of designing projects. We’ve worked on this project to make sure we’re open to feedback. It’s been really important and really enjoyable working with patient partners. This project will mean change for everyone moving forward. By having collaborative working and patients working with us, there’s a better understanding of what we can do and how we can do it. It definitely improves what is ultimately delivered. This process has definitely given us a real appreciation of the insights from patients.’’      

Thanking patient partners for their ongoing work and commitment to improving health services, HSE National Director, Public Involvement, Culture and Risk Management, Joe Ryan, outlines how they are ‘‘committed to changing and improving how we involve patient partners in co-designing health service projects to improve services. As part of this work in the HSE, we are developing internal policies to give life to the Partnership Strategy, including guidance on when patient partners are included and how partners are identified, selected and supported. We are fully focused on listening to the patient experience and partnering with those people who have had this experience. I want to thank the many patient partners who continue to work with staff across the health service. Sharing their lived experiences and working in partnership with HSE staff ultimately improves health services for everyone.’’

The second HSE Patient and Public Partnership Conference takes place on Tuesday, September 24th. This year’s theme is: ‘Changing patient outcomes: one partnership at a time.’ The conference is bringing together patient partners, advocates and HSE staff.

Watch participants outline their involvement in the National ePrescribing Project on YouTube.com