The GP-CARE Computer System for General Practice

GP-CARE has attained RFA 99 accreditation

The GP-CARE project is a collaboration between the Centre for Health Informatics and Multi-professional Education (CHIME) and a set of general practices in north and east London. The project focus is on the design, implementation, support, maintenance and evaluation of high-quality GP computer systems for the improvement of patient care and for practice management.

The general practices have provided the anchor for the development of computer systems since 1988, providing:

• the practical basis from which functional requirements are derived;
• an active participation in the software design process;
• operational settings in which to prototype new or modified system modules;
• a range of sites in which to evaluate individual modules and the system as a whole;
• the primary source of funding for the development team.

Paradoc, a high spec DOS programme of its day, was authored and maintained by the existing development team over several years. A completely new cutting-edge GP system, GP-CARE, was written by the team over two years and has now been fully installed into each of the existing practices. The team are now ready to install GP-CARE into further London practices. The application is a fully-Windowed GUI (Graphical User Interface) programme, allowing total integration with other Windows applications, and has been conformance-tested to the latest national accreditation standard RFA 99.

GP-CARE provides:

a comprehensive clinical record supporting data entry as free text or Read Codes directly or through simple protocols;

• a rigorous drug prescribing module using Multilex drug database incorporating checks for drug interactions, allergies and clinical contraindications;
• access to PRODIGY treatment guidance
• patient summaries, recalls, audit and reporting functions;
• patient registration and fee-claiming facilities with electronic links to local health authorities;
• an appointment system;
• access to the NHSNet;
• MIQUEST compatibility;
• the unique opportunity for GP practices to have a direct input into the development of their clinical and administrative computer system.

CHIME is also involved in a number of national and European research projects on electronic healthcare records, decision support and telemedicine and the development of computer-assisted learning resources. The progressive integration of these and other research products with GP Care is anticipated over the coming years.

To discuss the project or arrange a demonstration contact: Jasper.Mahon@gp-F84018.nhs.uk

Examples of GP-CARE screens

Maintained by: d.kalra@chime.ucl.ac.uk

This page last modified 25 November, 2008 by CHIME Webmaster