Two doctor associations are urging the government to fully roll-out the national electronic patient health records for primary care.

The Malta College of Family Doctors and the Association of Private Family Doctors said in a statement presenting their proposals for the budget that the government should also:

• improve communication between primary and secondary care by investing in the digital interfaces needed to put all patient information from different medical sections available online;
• make digital services already available to the general population also available for residents in the Homes for the Elderly;
• create a route for all family doctors to be able to apply for free medication on behalf of their patients;
• make more investigations available to all family doctors;
• increase the expenditure in preventive health services; and
• make shortcuts to bureaucratic triangulations.

All the above, they said, would improve the patient experience of the health service as they would decrease the number of stops needed and days taken off work to access health services.

Expenses would also be shifted from the relatively more expensive secondary hospital care services to the relatively less expensive primary care services.