Patients in New Zealand’s Northland region will be able to access hospital care documentation through a commonly used patient portal in the next couple of weeks.

Residents with an active Manage My Health portal account, which already gives them access to information held by their general practice, will now be able to opt in to seeing certain hospital documents if they have received hospital care at Whangārei, Dargaville, Bay of Islands or Kaitai hospitals.

It includes hospital-issued communications such as referral notifications, clinic letters and discharge summaries.

Te Whatu Ora – Te Tai Tokerau estimates that 75,000 people in the region have an active Manage My Health account through their general practice.

Manage My Health is New Zealand’s most widely used patient portal and integrates with the Medtech practice management system to allow patients to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and pay online.

Practices use it to send electronic recalls, appointment bookings, automated reminders and secure email.

In a new initiative, Te Whatu Ora is funding the cost of the Manage My Health portal in Northland, removing the charges from GPs and community healthcare providers. It is now also being opened up to local hospitals on an optional basis.

All Manage My Health users will be sent an email notifying them that they can access their hospital documents following a trial run with 15,000 Manage My Health users, none of whom opted out.

According to Te Whatu Ora – Te Tai Tokerau, the email will contain a link that recipients can click on to opt out from viewing their hospital documents via Manage My Health, while keeping the view of their GP care information.

Portal project lead for the health service Di Davis said anyone who receives the email stating they have an un-activated account is encouraged to click on the activate link and follow the instructions.

“I’d also like to reassure everyone who receives the email that it is genuine and there is no need to contact your GP about it,” Dr Davis said.

“We are encouraged by our recent trial which involved notifying 15,000 Manage My Health account holders, with none opting out and no impact on GPs with patient queries relating to it, which is reassuring.”

Dr Davis said transitioning away from mailing letters and other documents also avoids the risk of lost or delayed mail, defunct addresses for patients, and people living across multiple locations.

“This project gives people the choice of an online view of their health information which now extends to their hospital care documents,” she said.

Whangarei GP and patient portal ambassador Andrew Miller portals provide many benefits to patients, including the convenience of being able to access healthcare information 24/7 online.

“You can have your health information available at your fingertips, whenever and wherever you are, including if you move house or to another district or region, or if you enrol with a new GP,” Dr Miller said.

“Also, using the portal to view test results, order repeat prescriptions or book appointments, as some portal accounts allow, it is not only convenient for you, but helps your general practice’s workload by reducing phone call time and other tasks, freeing them up to provide more care.”

Manage My Health is part of the Ministry of Health’s sponsored data programme so it can be accessed on smartphones or tablets without being charged for data costs.