NHS North East Essex set to launch SCR

The summary care record roll out

NHS North East Essex is launching its Summary Care Record programme this week and 12 other primary care trusts in East of England plan to follow by 1 April.

The roll-out of the SCR in NHS East of England is being supported by Department of Health funding towards the cost of the Public Information Programmes (PIPs) which must be used by the end of the financial year.

A spokesperson for NHS East of England told EHI Primary Care that it was on track to deliver all patient information programmes by the end of March with North east Essex and Norfolk PCTs the first to go ahead. North West Essex PCT was an early adopter for the SCR and had created SCRs for a third of its population by November last year.

“All PCTs in the region plan to write to all their residents before 1 April,” the spokesperson added.

NHS North East Essex said it will be mailing 259,000 information packs to patients approaching the age of 16 or over this week explaining the Summary Care Record programme and describing what people should do if they wish to opt out.

Patients will have a minimum of 12 weeks to decide if they want an SCR but the PCT said uploads of records would happen in a phases approach throughout 2010, depending on GP systems’ accreditation for the SCR functionality.

June Francis, SCR project manager for NHS North East Essex, said later this year patients would be offered the opportunity to view their SCR over HealthSpace.

Ann Poyner, patient representative on the North East Essex SCR project, added: “I trust this initiative will lead to greater patient involvement in monitoring their health records through the use of a HealthSpace Advanced Account when it is implemented. I also hope it will encourage patients to participate in fuller dialogue with their GPs concerning health information held about them.”

The PCT said public drop-in sessions would also be held around North East Essex during the next 12 weeks to provide more information for patients about the SCR programme.

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