Covid-19 vaccine status added to personal health records in Scotland

Covid-19 vaccine status is now available through personal health records across the majority of Scotland.

The Scottish government has struck a deal with Orion Health to enable health and care workers to access a person’s Covid vaccine history.

Information about the jabs, held in the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS), is set to be displayed in shared care records and can be accessed across a range of clinical settings.

Orion Health’s shared care record is used in 11 out of the country’s 14 health boards.

Clinicians from four health boards in the North of Scotland, which use a regional ‘care portal’, and from NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Fife can already find out whether a patient has been vaccinated, when, and which vaccine they received.

Remaining health boards in Scotland are in the process of rolling out, or planning to roll out, the same functionality.

Iain Ross, the head of eHealth at NHS Highland, said: “This has been a really good example of collaboration to improve support for patients.

“The shared care record is simple to access and simple to use, but that simplicity marks many days of hard work by many people from different parts of NHS Scotland, who worked together to deliver this functionality.”

Currently people living in Scotland can be vaccinated at a vaccination centre or their GP surgery.

Information about the jabs is recorded into the NCDS via a purpose-built Vaccination Management Tool, but emergency clinicians and other health and care professionals involved in a patient’s care were unable to see their vaccine status.

The Scottish government commissioned Orion Health to create a way to make patient’s vaccine status more accessible. The records are based on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards.

Nick Willox, of Orion Health in Scotland, said: “The project shows how investment in open, scalable data platforms enables health and care organisations to rapidly develop new functionality in response to emerging threats or clinical needs.

“By working in partnership and making use of the latest FHIR standards we were able to deliver the integration in a very short space of time.”

The clinical summary views within the Orion Health Shared Care Record may also be used to display other immunisation data in the future.

Covid-19 passport

People living in Scotland can access a Covid-19 vaccination status letter from the NHS Inform patient portal if they’re travelling abroad. The service has been available since May 19.

Only those planning to travel to a country where a record of vaccination status is needed as an entry requirement request it, according to guidance from the Scottish government.

Eventually the vaccination status letters are expected to be replaced by digital Covid Status Certificates, which will include vaccine and testing data.

Covid-19 passports are also live in England and Wales, with Northern Ireland’s expected to be rolled out as soon as July 5.