The way that patients give their permission to allow hospital staff to treat them is changing in hospitals across Hertfordshire and west Essex.
A new electronic system called ‘eConsent’ is being introduced which will replace the paper forms that patients had to sign. The change is designed to make this process better for patients and staff, as NHS services work to recover from the pandemic.
The first hospital to start using the electronic system, called Concentric, is The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow. The obstetrics and gynaecology and orthopaedics departments will start to use the system first, from Wednesday 5 October, before it is rolled out to other areas in future.
East and North Hertfordshire Hospital NHS Trust and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust will also introduce the eConsent system in the coming weeks.
The eConsent system enables patients to see information about their treatment and provide their consent online. The system uses a secure link sent by email and/or text message, so that patients can give their permission for procedures using a computer, tablet, or smart phone. If patients do not have a device which they can use to give permission from home, they can give their consent online during an appointment or while they are on a hospital ward.
Moving to an electronic consent system will:
- allow patients to have more time to review and understand information
- mean fewer cancellations and delays to surgery/treatment
- save time for clinicians and hospital administrators, allowing more time to care
- enable more personalised information and better documentation
- offer better patient engagement – making decisions together
- enable consultations and appointments to take place online, when a face-to-face appointment isn’t always needed before the day of treatment.
Helen Pardoe, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Princess Alexandra Hospital, said: “We want patients’ experiences with healthcare services to be as easy and smooth as possible, and the new eConsent system will pave the way for us to do this. It will support patients' understanding of their procedures and/or treatments, providing accessible information tailored to them.”
How eConsent works
After the new system has been explained to patients, patients will receive information about the eConsent system as an email from the email address notifications@concentric.health, or as a text message from a mobile contact named ‘Concentric’. Patients will be able to see this information any time before or after their treatment. Anyone who needs extra help in getting started with eConsent can email the Concentric support team.
Clinicians will always discuss proposed treatments or procedures with their patients. If patients have further questions they can find the contact details for the hospital or department in the information they received through the eConsent system.
The eConsent system works on any modern, internet-enabled device and adapts to be easily viewed on different screen sizes. It will also work on different web browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple, Safari and Mozilla Firefox.
Patients’ information will remain confidential and secure and kept in line with healthcare governance requirements. The system uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for all hosting and data processing, within a data centre in the UK.