Data recorded in healthcare services is stored in the Patient Data Repository while medicine data is stored in the Prescription service, and social welfare data is stored in the Client Data Archive for Social Welfare Services. When patient and client data is combined in one location, i.e. Kanta, the data can be utilised in the planning, guidance and monitoring of services.
Healthcare
Patient data has been stored in Kanta since 2014. The amount of patient data grows steadily each year. By the end of 2022, a total of more than 3 billion medical records on 6.5 million people had been stored in Kanta.
Figure 1 shows the amount of healthcare patient data stored in Kanta over the past five years. Figure 2 shows how the amount of patient data has changed in the last 12 months.
Social welfare
Social welfare client data has been stored in Kanta since 2018. The Client Data Archive for Social Welfare Services is not yet used by all providers of public and private social welfare services, but the amount of client data stored in the service is increasing rapidly. By the end of 2022, a total of 74 million documents on 1.4 million people had been stored in Kanta.
Figure 3 shows the amount of social welfare client data stored in Kanta over the past five years. Figure 4 shows how the amount of client data has changed in the last 12 months.
Prescriptions
The Prescription service has been in use since 2010. All prescriptions have been issued as electronic prescriptions since 2017. The number of prescriptions issued by physicians has remained steady in recent years. A total of 28 million prescriptions were issued through Kanta in 2022.
Figure 5 shows the number of prescriptions issued and dispensed in the last five years. Figure 6 shows how the amount of prescriptions has changed in the last 12 months. In 2022, nearly as many prescriptions were issued as in the previous year. The number of prescriptions used increased by 19% compared to the previous year.
More prescription medicines are dispensed than there are prescriptions, because a pharmacy can dispense medicines several times based on a single prescription. Each year, prescriptions are used three times more often than they are written.
