Health chiefs celebrate Summary Care Records 'success'

But plans to extend information held on electronic patient records have drawn sharp criticism

Department of Health officials are celebrating the success of the Summary Care Records (SCR) system – a basic electronic patient record that survived the fallout of the ill-starred National Programme for IT (NPfIT) – after receiving support for the system from patient groups.

The SCR system had once been under threat after concerns that the much-delayed project would not deliver value for money.

But having won ministerial approval a year ago, the system is going from strength to strength, said health minister Simon Burns.

“I am delighted that, a year on from our review, patients and groups representing them are seizing the initiative in exploring how the Summary Care Record can best meet their needs,” he said.

Groups including the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Mencap, Diabetes UK and the British Lung Foundation have all now come out in support of the SCR.

“The Summary Care Record will bring many benefits for patients but especially those with a lung disease who are often admitted to hospital in an emergency if their condition flares up unexpectedly. The records will mean that healthcare professionals have the most current information and will be able to treat patients quickly, efficiently and accurately,” said Caroline Stevens, the interim chief executive at the British Heart Foundation.

Roughly 8.5m summary care records have been created, with just 1.2 per cent of patients choosing to opt out of the system when approached.

A second wave of patients in locations including Coventry and Oldham are now being added to the system.

But not everybody is yet convinced by that SCR is fit for purpose – fears heightened over reports that a patient’s wish not to be resuscitated (DNR) could be included in the record.

“If the SCR isn’t considered safe enough for [accident and emergency] staff to rely on for clinical information such as patients’ blood group, then how come they are now going to rely on it for DNR?” said Ross Anderson, chairman of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

Anderson has previously been highly critical of the SCR system, arguing that its design principles were badly flawed and the risk of patient information being compromised was too great.

“Thank goodness most doctors pay no attention whatsoever to what’s written on the SCR,” he told Computing.

Other parts of the now abandoned NPfIT also continue to thrive. Yesterday, telecoms giant BT confirmed that it had increased the capacity of the NHS N3 national broadband network to 5Gbps and enhanced traffic prioritisation capabilities.