HEALTHMAIL Coming Soon to Private Practitioner members of ISCP

The ISCP is delighted to confirm to members that following over three years of advocacy work on this with the HSE, the HSE has recently secured funding to allow it to extend the Healthmail secure e mail service to private practitioner members of the ISCP. This will be rolled out to members by the end of September following a piloting exercise with five practices chosen in consultation with ISCP.

Healthmail is a secure, private, bounded email service for the exchange of patient identifiable clinical information.

The use of faxes and non-secure email systems present an unacceptable risk to the health service. Healthmail addresses this risk effectively and is the preferred solution for unstructured communication among health care colleagues. Healthmail helps health care providers to comply with GDPR requirements by securing identifiable, sensitive information as it is communicated with other health providers.

Healthmail has been in operation since 2014 with the original purpose of securing email communication between GPs and hospitals. Since then, the service has been further expanded and now includes:

• GPs and their practice staff
• Community Pharmacies
• Nursing Homes
• Dentists
• Optometrists
• Private Consultants.

Healthmail users can send clinical information securely to any colleague with an @healthmail.ie address, an @hse.ie or an @voluntaryhospital.ie address. In addition, there are a number of other Connected Agencies with whom they can safely communicate patient identifiable information. The full list is published on the eHealth Ireland website at this link: http://www.ehealthireland.ie/A2I-HIDs-Programme/Healthmail

Essentially, Healthmail works within a private bounded network. Transport layer security (TLS) connections are in place with all connected agencies. TLS provides an encrypted tunnel between the mail servers, ensuring the security and confidentiality of the data transmitted.

In April 2020, COVID Emergency Legislative Provisions recognised Healthmail as the national electronic prescription transfer service, permitting the transfer of a prescription between the prescriber and dispensing pharmacy by electronic means, removing the need for a paper equivalent. This has led to phenomenal increases in usage of the system across all user groups.

Aside from prescription transfers, some common uses of the system are as follows:

• Transfer of medical records;
• Requests for medical reviews;
• Referral queries;
• Communication of allied health professional assessments/ treatment plans.

Find out more at www.healthmail.ie