The NHS in England uses a national electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR) to improve the safety and quality of your care. It only contains basic information from your GP record and is not the full patient record. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.
The core information of the Summary Care Record comprises your allergies, adverse reactions and medications. An SCR with additional information can also include reason for medication, vaccinations, significant diagnoses / problems, significant procedures, anticipatory care information and end of life care information. Additional information can only be added to your SCR with your agreement.
Please be aware that if you choose to opt-out of the Summary Care Record (SCR), NHS healthcare staff caring for you outside of this practice may not be aware of your current medications, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had, in order to treat you safely in an emergency. Your record will not be shared with the Summary Care Record (SCR) programme. Your information will continue to be shared as previously in connection with your care, by letter, email, fax or phone.
If you wish to opt-out of having Summary Care Record (SCR) please return a completed opt-out form to the practice.
Summary Care Record
Your patient record (Summary Care Record) is held securely and confidentially on this practice’s electronic system. If you require attention from a health or social care professional, such as an Emergency Department, Minor Illness and Injury Unit, 111, Out Of Hours location, or specialised local health and social care team, those treating you are better able to give appropriate care if information from your GP patient record is available to them. This information can be locally shared electronically via the Summary Care Record.
In all cases, your information is only used by authorised health and social care professionals in organisation involved in providing or supporting your direct care. Your permission will be asked before the information is accessed, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. emergencies) if the health care professional is unable to ask you and this is deemed to be in your best interests, the reason for access will then be logged. Records and their access are audited by nominated privacy officers, on a regular basis to ensure compliance.
If you wish to opt-out of My Care Record please return a completed opt-out form to the practice.
Keeping data safe in the future
We will approach the longer term management of our patient records in line with the records Management NHS Code of Practice for Health and Social Care. This sets out the required standards of practice for managing the records that staff working within or under contract to NHS organisations in England must follow; and it is based on current legal requirements and professional best practice.
Who are our partner organisations?
All organisations that we work with are subject to strict data sharing agreements which set out how data will be used; which form part of their contractual obligations. The sort of organisations we work with are as follows:
- NHS trusts
- GP Federations
- Independent contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists – working to an NHS contract
- Private sector or voluntary sector providers – working to NHS contracts.
- Ambulance services
- Clinical Commissioning groups
- Social care providers
- Local authorities
- Education services
- Fire and Rescue Services
- Police
We will never share your information outside of health and social care partner organisations without your explicit consent, unless there are exceptional circumstances such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it.
Within the health partner organisations (NHS and Specialist Trusts) and in relation to the above mentioned themes – Risk Stratification, Invoice Validation, Supporting Medicines Management, Summary Care Record – we will assume you are happy to for your information to be shared unless you choose to opt-out (see pages 5 & 6).
This means you will need to express an explicit wish not to have your information shared with the other NHS organisations; otherwise they will be automatically shared. We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional. There are occasions when we must pass on information, such as notification of new births, where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others, such as Meningitis or measles (but not HIV/AIDS), and where a formal court order has been issued. Our guiding principle is that we are holding your records in strictest confidence.