Kanta - a database for all citizens
Kanta services are being developed into a database for all citizens. In future, client data from social welfare services will also be included in the service in addition to citizens’ health data. The services will become easier to use as the information is available regardless of the time or the place. This may also improve the quality of care.
When in future you interact with the authorities and need a medical certificate, you will not have to carry it with you. The authorities will receive the medical certificate through the Kanta services. This is one of the development steps on the road to more extensive operation of the Kanta services, providing a wider range of services and making them easier to use.
The platform of the Kanta services is currently being extended. The objective of the development work is to gather all client and patient data in one place, under the same national platform.
‘Patient referrals from one healthcare unit to another and the feedback on treatment by a healthcare unit will also be recorded in the Patient Data Repository in the near future. This data can then be viewed in My Kanta Pages.’
‘For example, in the near future, the healthcare services will also be able to record patient data in the health and care plan. This data, too, will be available to view on My Kanta Pages. Some dental care records have already been recorded and accessible in My Kanta Pages,’ lists Development Manager Riitta Konttinen of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Konttinen is responsible for the development of data contents of the Kanta services in private and public healthcare services in cooperation with THL’s experts, social and healthcare providers and system suppliers.
My Kanta Pages is a personal service, but the parents of children under ten years of age are able to access their child’s data in My Kanta Pages and, for example, send a request for prescription renewals to healthcare services.
‘The Personal Health Record in My Kanta Pages is a personal databank where healthcare professionals can view and search information to be enclosed with other health data. The client’s permission is always required for using the data.’
Private and public social and health care services on the same platform
The Kanta services already provide information about previous treatments and examinations regardless of whether the patient has been treated in private or public healthcare. In the view of THL’s Development Manager Minna Angeria, who is responsible for the deployment of Kanta services in both private and public social welfare and health care organisations, a nationwide service will result in multiple benefits.
‘Extensive utilisation of data recorded in the Kanta services in patient care will also improve patient safety as doctors will be able to view previous health data with the patient's consent. The objective is to avoid duplication of examinations and recordings.’
Information about previous treatments is available in the Kanta services regardless of whether they have been carried out by a private or public healthcare provider.
‘In an emergency situation, the recorded data on pre-hospital emergency care will be available in the unit responsible for continued treatment through the Patient Data Repository.'
‘The client will be able to see in My Kanta Pages where their patient data has been shared. The use of patient data can be verified in the log data. In addition to improving the quality of care, the legal protection of both the patient and the doctor will also increase.’
According to Angeria, one of the key development areas in the future will be a medication list of the patient’s overall medication regimen, which has been developed in close cooperation with doctors. In the future, all of the patient’s medicines can be viewed on a single medication list, which will be visible to professionals and the citizens themselves. It is already possible to print out a summary of the patient’s own prescriptions.
Indeed, the electronic prescription is one of the best known Kanta services. The prescriptions saved in the Kanta service are always accessible to healthcare professionals and they cannot be lost or forged. The medicines can be collected from any pharmacy.
The development work continues. In the future, professionals will be able to view the results of imaging examinations, such as magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging and computed tomography, and citizens are already able to read reports on them in My Kanta Pages.
In the next few years, documents and data from the social welfare services will also be included in My Kanta Pages.