TWO hospices for adults in Dorset have joined a programme aimed at making high-quality health and social care as accessible as possible.

Weldmar Hospicecare, in Dorchester, and Lewis-Manning Hospice Care have joined the Dorset Care Record - a partnership that brings a patient’s health details together so that health and social care staff are able to pool information and provide the best possible care. 

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

Caroline Sweetland, director of clinical services at Weldmar Hospicecare, said: "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."

Director of clinical services at Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, Hayley Bonner said: “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.”

The Dorset Care Record is a confidential computer record that joins up different systems to create a more comprehensive and up-to-date record about patients across the county. 

It is a partnership supported by NHS Dorset, Dorset County Hospital, University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset HealthCare, Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

A spokesperson for Dorset Care Record said: “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.”