Patient and caregiver perceptions of electronic health records interoperability in the NHS and its impact on care quality: a focus group study

Our study contributes to the existing body of literature by providing the perspectives of patients and carers most likely to encounter interoperability challenges and therefore those most ideally positioned to propose potential solutions. As highlighted by patients, researchers and policymakers should consider social, educational, and organisational solutions, in addition to technical solutions. Lack of interoperability (i.e., the ability to share a patient's health information electronically between healthcare providers) can affect the quality of care received. However, much of the existing research was done from the viewpoint of healthcare staff rather than from patients themselves. This study explored the views of patients regarding what they feel interoperability in the NHS is currently like, how they think it affects their care, and what they think can be done to improve it. Patients reported interoperability to often be poor. It caused inconvenience both to themselves and their healthcare provider, and negatively impacted their experience getting care overall. Patient suggestions for improvement included centralising and reducing the number of existing systems, having more training for healthcare staff, and supporting patients and other healthcare staff in managing their health data.