To ask Her Majesty's Government what action is being taken to ensure that primary care trusts and GP practices are prepared and supported prior to and during the introduction of Summary Care Records. [HL2603]

The department has produced a range of guidance, materials and other resources to facilitate communicating the introduction of summary care records (SCRs) to National Health Service staff and patients.

A toolkit has been provided to primary care trusts (PCTs) to support their local stakeholder engagement and public information programmes, and each strategic health authority has a nominated SCR implementation lead available to advise and support PCTs.

For general practitioner (GP) practices, a SCR awareness pack has been made available, and many PCTs are supplementing this with additional local information and GP practice awareness sessions. Before they are expected to create SCRs for patients, GP practices will receive appropriate training and software upgrades.

Patients can order additional information free of charge from a central point, or can contact a dedicated national NHS care record service telephone information line.