Tories will scrap patient record database

Patients should have better access to records, say Tories

The Conservatives today firmed up plans to scrap government plans for a central NHS database of records.

Instead they want to give patients greater control over their health records by allowing electronic medical records to be stored locally by GPs or accessed online.

Every patient would have a user name and password and could update their records with information such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien said the government’s planned central database does not involve patients at all.

"In patients’ hands, health records could do so much more," said O'Brien. " We would have a clearer picture of our health and our care and we would be able to add information to help doctors treat us better."

Part of the government's £12.7bn National Programme for IT aims to give all patients a summary care record stored centrally on a database that could be accessed by clinicians all round the country.

Though other parts of the National Programme have been implemented successfully, the care records scheme is running some four years late and has been plagued with problematic hosptial implementations and contract wranglings as two major suppliers pulled out.

In April the NHS chief information officer gave suppliers until November to move the programme forward significantly or the Government would move to a "new plan for delivering informatics in healthcare".

The Tories say contracts in place with IT services firms should be brought to a halt and renegotiated to "prevent further inefficiencies".

And they say they will give NHS trusts a choice of computer systems, rather than having a single one imposed.

O'Brien insisted on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning that these separate systems would be interoperable, so information could be accessed from different locations.

"You want to have your data held locally and that should be with the person you trust most in the health service, which will be your GP," he said.

But Health Minister Ann Keen said the Tories needed to be more clear on how their plans will ensure patient confidentiality and government plans already gave patients access to their records.

"We have already set out our plans to give patients greater access to health information, for example through Healthspace where patients can see their summary care record," she said.