HealthOne enables pharmacists and other authorised clinicians to view patient information that is shared between multiple healthcare providers, including test results, allergies, prescribed and dispensed medications together with hospital information.

The aim of the system is to provide a limited ‘window’ of relevant, up to date patient information from each party involved to enable better decision-making and improve the quality of care and outcomes for the patient.

The organisational partners in the HealthOne system are: Canterbury District Health Board, Pegasus Health (who also represent CCPG and Nurse Maude) and Orion Healthcare Limited. The clinical partners will be the contributing General Practitioners, Community Pharmacists, Nurse Maude clinicians and Hospital clinical clinicians.

The project was initiated after the February quake when the need was identified to develop a robust system that would enable secure access to a patient’s essential health information. HealthOne will make that information available to the key providers of an individual’s healthcare.

In the case of pharmacies, a recent history of medications dispensed to a patient will be available for other clinicians to view. In turn, authorised pharmacy staff will be able to view data provided by CDHB – this will include discharge summaries of recent hospital admissions and emergency department visits; list outpatient appointments and medications prescribed.

There are a number of protections built in to manage the privacy of information. Patients will have the option to “opt off” the system through a single phone call or by speaking to their HealthCare provider. Information about HealthOne has been made widely available and includes a website - http://www.healthone.org.nz/