We’re drawing to the close of the year in which the NHS turned 70. After the announcement of extra NHS funding in June, there are changes afoot in frontline patient care across the UK. One trend is for GP surgeries to merge. Almost 700 practices merged or closed in five years to 2017, with this figure rising to 250 in 2017/18 alone. The rise of the ‘mega GP practice’ means one in four practices now has a patient list of more than 10,000 patients.
With an extra 2.6 million patients reportedly registering in 2013-17, larger caseloads mean more pressure on storing patient records. One solution is for practices have to be physically larger or multi-centred. But it becomes more difficult to ensure continuity of care, as there are more significant numbers of staff who may deal with each patient.
CAS stores patient records securely off-site
CAS can solve the problem of storing patient records, thanks to our years of experience with complex archive storage. As it frees up space at GP surgeries, storing medical records securely off-site in CAS warehouses is cost-effective (https://cas.ltd/medical-records-storage). All documents are stored in high-security, fire-proofed warehousing, whether it’s a digital or hard copy.
CAS is an ISO-certified provider with industry-leading accreditation, deploying professional document handling teams to provide the highest standards of secure document storage. CAS fulfils all the records storage obligations set out by the health sector regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). And our services comply with the 2014 NHS England Confidentiality Policy, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Every Mega GP practice needs efficient file storage and retrieval
Our medical records storage service is also highly efficient, thanks to our Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and live-file storage systems. We can individually scan storage boxes across all our storage facilities using RFID. The system is one of the most advanced in tracking clients’ documents. It supports UK and EU data protection regulations, while RFID asset tracking means faster, more cost-effective report generation. It also enables comprehensive audits to be performed in close to real-time, and a secure audit trail of all clients’ transactions.
With our fully hosted live-file storage system (https://cas.ltd/live-file-storage), records that are in constant use can be retrieved, updated and returned to storage 24/7. CAS’s online file storage system comes with customised search criteria that enable authorised personnel to access records remotely from anywhere in the UK. This is facilitated through an advanced and totally secure, password-protected online portal.
Helping achieve the goal of a paperless NHS
There was slippage in earlier targets to make the NHS paperless by 2018. The revised target is for all NHS trusts to be ‘largely digitalised’ by 2023. More importantly, this is founded on achieving the ‘Triple Aim’ of better health, better healthcare, and lower cost. This is certainly something that CAS can help, given our expertise in digitising documents. And with our virtual post-room and post-scanning services, we can help revolutionise the way that GP surgeries and consultants communicate. (https://cas.ltd/post-scanning-virtual-post-room)
For a more detailed look at what CAS can do, read our case study on our work with Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. (https://cas.ltd/nhs-trust-chooses-cas-to-store-confidential-patient-records) We relocated and digitised over 20,000 confidential client health care files. This has enabled primary care staff to deliver increased support to children and young people.
With CAS taking care of patient records, GP practices and other NHS agencies can deploy more of their resources providing frontline services. To find out more about our medical records and live file storage services, contact one of the CAS team today.
- Email: Info@CAS.ltd
- Call: 0845 50 50 003
- Website
CAS patient records storage
CAS provides comprehensive and secure patient records storage, document digitisation, information storage and facilities management services. For more than 20 years CAS have worked with NHS Trusts, Financial Services providers, and corporate and private clients. Our head office is just four miles from the City of London. Supported by our advanced storage centres across the UK. CAS has an impressive array of International certifications (ISOs). These prove our compliance with the strictest national, European and international laws. They also demonstrate our commitment to provide innovative systems on security, confidentiality and quality control. And they guarantee that we keep your files safe and well managed.
