The Niels-Stensen clinics have set up a web portal, via which the referring physicians will be able to access patients‘ data directly. The objective is to provide better service to established physicians and thereby to contribute to a smoother follow-up of patients‘ treatment.
Comment: The step towards digital collaboration has already been tried out in several regional projects. Though this is no longer a technical problem, it has been plagued by lack of system compliance by the parties involved. Whether physicians, patients or other persons are involved in the interfaces, all must support this project to ensure that they contribute towards successful networking. It begins with the consent form by the patient, allowing their data to be divulged to an "authorized third party" via physicians who must use and support the system on the sender’s as well as the recipient’s side. Introduction of the electronic health card (eHC) has already demonstrated how difficult it proves to be to introduce such systems. All those involved must be educated and "included" in the project.