Patients with an existing EPaCCS record

We can now offer a solution to support clinicians working from home on their laptops.  They do not have to have Pyrusium installed on their laptops.  Licensed users will be able to access our software and EPaCCS using a modern browser to view and/or amend an existing care plan.

Patients who need a new EPaCCS record created

Last week, NHS Digital and Black Pear completed a streamlined process allowing us more quickly to enable Core Care Plan users to search for a patient using NHS Digital SMSP service (Spine Mini Services for PDS). 

This means that each of the organisations who wish to ‘create’ a new EPaCCS record will be able to. Laptop users will, by using a modern browser (https://pyrusapps.blackpear.com) have access via SMSP. They will be able to find a patient using the following combination of credentials:

• Surname, date of birth, gender
• NHS number, date of birth

Once found, both the patient and their registered GP demographics will automatically populate the new EPaCCS record. The mandatory fields i.e. inform patient, primary end of life diagnosis and CPR will be required to be completed. 

There will be fields that will not be automatically populated from the GP record.  These are:

• Current repeat medications
• Acute medications in last six months
• Allergies and adverse reactions
• Co-morbid conditions

Data items already in the patient’s GP record will not be automatically populated:

• Disability section items such as visual, cognitive, hearing impairment etc
• Interpreter needed/not needed
• Gold standard framework items
• Anticipatory medicines have been prescribed
• Preferred place of care
• Preferred place of death

EPaCCS records created outside the practice – the GP practice process

When an EPaCCS record is created outside the practice, it will sit at the GP Practice waiting to be accepted back in. The practice will ‘accept’ the changes, saving it to the GP patient record. Once this has been done, they should re-open the EPaCCS record to pull in the clinical data and then re-save with the additional information for multidisciplinary teams outside the practice.

Value of this approach

• GPs will be able to create new EPaCCS records for their patients
• Once an EPaCCS form is created the information is available for multidisciplinary care teams 24 hours a day.
• For NHS 111 and Out of Hours users the Palliative Care SPN will be available as it is now.