Just the ‘opt out’ form through today. Not sure how I feel about this and what benefit there is in having a record created.

Any thoughts?

http://www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk/faqs

Makes it easier to get the right heath care it never fails to amaze me how many people have no idea what medication they take, why and what allergies they have.

I’m not on any regular meds and I don’t have any allergies, so can’t really see what the advantage is.

Maybe it’s not for you then. Yet.

Can’t really think of any good reason to opt-out myself.

YMMV.

it never fails to amaze me how many people have no idea what medication they take, why and what allergies they have.

Couldn’t agree more. I’ve lost count of the number of times that patients have missed out on their regular meds for days because they have no idea what they take and no-one brought them in. And the number of people that forget that they’ve had a heart attack, or a stroke, or cancer…

Makes it easy for Big Pharma too.

A large chunk of my job is finding out what medications people are on when admitted to hospital (often surgical assessment so a fair few bike-related). Asking the patient is always the preference as there’s usually a gap between what the GP would like you to be taking and what you’re actually taking but often access SCRs as a last resort. Access is massively restricted and still requires your permission, unless you are in a coma and it’s important that we know (emergency access). They run a report and chase you up if you’ve accessed a record of a patient not admitted at the time.

The singletrack demographic, from experience, is often hopeless at knowing the detail we need ‘the heart one in the morning’ rather than the specific drug and strength is kinda useless when we have 3000 varieties of meds in the pharmacy.

(GPs can still veto the sharing of your record anyway – never got my head round this)

Makes it easy for Big Pharma too.

How?

From the FAQ link above:

Who can see my Summary Care Record?

Only healthcare staff involved in supporting or providing your care can see your Summary Care Record. These:

need to be directly involved in caring for you;
need to have an NHS Smartcard with a chip and passcode (like a bank card and PIN);
will only see the information they need to do their job;
and should have their details recorded.

Healthcare staff will ask your permission every time they need to look at your Summary Care Record. If they cannot ask you, for example if you are unconscious, they may look at your Summary Care Record without asking you. If they do this, they will make a note on your record to say why they have done so.

You also need to read this:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/records/healthrecords/Documents/nhs-england-care-data-paient-leaflet.PDF

Makes it easy for Big Pharma too.

Yeah another major plus point. Anonymised access to patient data on a national scale would be great for medical research.

And the number of people that forget that they’ve had a heart attack, or a stroke, or cancer…

Yup.

“So you medical history, have you had or have any illnesses or operations?”

“No.”

“I see you take Insulin what’s that for then?”

“Oh, just Diabetes”

😯

Some sweeping comments about patients in this thread. I have a better idea than my GP of what meds I’ve taken for migraine over the years, the doses, durations of treatment, and the outcomes. At the suggestion of the neurologist, I summarised it all myself and offered it to my GP who thinks it’s great and had it scanned into my medical records.

Not sweeping it’s after 24 years of working in the NHS.

Your example is a good reason to have a record.

legolam – Member

Couldn’t agree more. I’ve lost count of the number of times that patients have missed out on their regular meds for days because they have no idea what they take and no-one brought them in.

I missed a day’s insulin because I was off my tits on morphine and none too sure who I was when they asked me if I was on any medication. So it seems like a good idea to me, assuming they don’t make an absolute cock of it.

Sounds sensible, to have more joined-up care. Who is going to produce such a summary though? It currently takes an average of 4 months simply to transfer medical records from one GP surgery to another when a patient moves. Or so I was told at my new surgery. The current system seems a bit clunky.

From my recent experience, the NHS simply can not be trusted with Summary Care Records and ensuring they are up-to-date.