The survey of 673 practices showed that GPs still receive the vast majority of patient information such as discharge letters or test results from other NHS organisations through the post - despite an overwhelming majority (96%) of practices preferring to receive documents electronically.
Practices estimated that administration staff spent the equivalent of two working days each week processing documents, and a significant number of practices reported communications being routinely lost in the post.
The survey was conducted on behalf of Healthcare Gateway Ltd, a joint venture by leading GP software providers INPS and EMIS to make it easier to share patient information between different healthcare organisations. It revealed that:
- An average of 373 clinical documents was delivered per week to each practice and 31 per cent of practices reported receiving more than 500 a week. 84% of clinical communications were sent on paper
- Practices estimated 18 hours per week could be saved on scanning and inputting paper documents if they were sent electronically
- Forty-four per cent of practices reported that documents were lost in the post each year, and 16 per cent said documents failed to arrive every week.
Peter Anderson, commercial director of Healthcare Gateway said: "Despite advances in technology, it is clear that the vast majority of busy GP surgeries are still being swamped by paper documents that need to be manually processed.
"This survey shows that there is an overwhelming demand for electronic communication delivered directly into the GP system that is not being met. Yet the technology already exists to quickly and securely share vital clinical information between secondary care clinicians and GPs using different IT systems."
Healthcare Gateway Ltd has developed the Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG), which facilitates data sharing between healthcare professionals (with patient consent). It can be used to send electronic discharge documents from a hospital computer to a GP computer, even where the two use different clinical systems. The MIG has been driven by demand from the NHS and other healthcare providers to move to a "connect all" ethos.
In Cumbria, the MIG is currently being used to facilitate record-sharing between out of hours (OOH) doctors and GPs on three different computer systems.
Dr William Lumb, clinical informatics lead for NHS Cumbria said: "Paper documents are a major irritant for GPs and practice staff. We are operating 19th century communications in the 21st century.
"I am desperate to introduce a completely electronic document system and the MIG is currently the right strategic tool for the job. Electronic discharges via the MIG will make significant efficiencies in our practice and improve healthcare to our patients."
* Calculated using an average (from Healthcare Gateway survey) of 373 letters a week X 52 (weeks in a year) X 10,112 (number of GP practices in UK. Source: BMA 2010) = 196.1m documents per year
** Source: Department of Health, cost of a reminder letter to a patient
About Healthcare Gateway Limited
Healthcare Gateway Limited is a 50:50 joint venture business from EMIS and INPS. The aim of Healthcare Gateway is to implement a Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG) that will facilitate the sharing of data between healthcare professionals.