Medical Records

Mr. Letwin
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of the process for patients who wish to opt out of the new NHS Care Records Service computer system; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Bradshaw
The summary care record (SCR), part of the national health service care records service started to be introduced into early-adopter primary care trusts in spring 2007. The Department is working with the summary care record advisory group and with independent evaluators based at University College London to ensure that all significant learning from the early adopters is taken into account as soon as it is available so that the results can be incorporated into future deployment plans for the SCR.

Among the key aspects of the evaluation will be an assessment of patient’s experience of the SCR consent/dissent model and the guidance that has been issued to all general practices on how they should respond to patient inquiries about having a summary care record. The evaluation will draw from extensive fieldwork done to capture the views and experiences of patients, general practitioners, practice managers, nurses and other NHS clinical and management staff.

The Department intends to publish the findings of the evaluation later this year.