iPhone app enables patients to live update GP medical records
Health conscious iPhone users will soon have a new tool at their disposal to keep even the greatest hypochondriacs happy; an obesity measure, blood pressure monitor and pedometer which automatically relays data direct to the patient’s own medical records.
Patient Access piggybacks on Apple’s own Health app to connect with digital health records of up to 40m patients in England and Wales.
GP’s have welcomed the emergence of the new technology with Tim Water, a doctor in Newbury, Berkshire, telling The Times: “If you can gather data from a patient’s everyday life, it’s a big help. We would get a much more representative reading. When patients are in our waiting room, waiting to give a reading, they might be stressed out.”
As well as making the doctors job easier it will also prove a boon to patients whose treatment plans can now be customised to their particular needs.
Patient Access has been developed by EMIS, the same software firm behind the digital medical records programme, which allows patients to book appointments, check their files and view prescriptions remotely.
Following a raft of security breaches entailing personal data online EMIS are at pains to stress the precautions they’ve taken to secure data, claiming that their protection systems are ‘military grade’.