Two-thirds of GPs against sharing their medical records

A survey of GPs by Pulse magazine has found that only a third plan to advise patients to allow their details to be shared using the NHS Summary Care Record.

The survey revealed that GPs are also cautious about sharing their own records with just a third saying they will allow full sharing, while four in ten say they will opt out completely and allow none of their details to be shared.

Some 66% of the GPs who responded said they won’t allow their own records to be shared.

Pulse reported that despite a concerted Government PR and marketing campaign to sell the merits of the NHS IT programme in general and Summary Care Record in particular, some 80% of the GPs who responded still believe that shared electronic care records threatened patient confidentiality.

The survey results also indicated that the majority of GPs who responded – some 67% – oppose the implied consent ‘opt out’ model, which currently forms the basis for the roll-out of SCR under NPfIT.

The GP magazine also reported that in an interview Lord Warner, the minister formerly responsible for the NHS IT programme, had warned that GPs had become over-protective of their existing record systems.

"GPs too often moved themselves from a position where they had been the leaders on IT in the NHS and were turning themselves into Luddites."

In an earlier April poll of almost 500 GPs by Doctor magazine almost three in four blame the National Programme for IT for worsening their morale in the last year.