Electronic access to health records

AFTER 2015, if you cannot remember the name of any medicine you have been taking, your family doctor will be able to pull out your health records on the computer in a jiffy. Some doctors have already started using the National Electronic Health Records - a system which gives every person just one medical record accessible to all the healthcare professionals treating him, whether in a hospital or GP clinic.

The system, once fully implemented, will mean just one medical record for each patient, no matter if he is treated in a public- or private-sector hospital, clinic, nursing home or even in the army. It includes details like a patient's medical problems, medications, allergies and results of laboratory tests. The first batch of users are doctors, nurses and pharmacists from Changi General Hospital and the voluntary welfare organisation-run St Andrew's Community Hospital and Dover Park Hospice, as well as 10 GPs.