GPs told check consent for SCR add-ons

GP practices that have added additional information to Summary Care Records without explicit patient consent have been told to gain consent or remove the information as soon as possible.

NHS Connecting for Health has written to primary care trusts outlining the need for practices to gain explicit consent for any enrichment of the SCR, following the completion of two reviews of its content and consent model.

Before the reviews were published, GPs were able to use their own discretion about whether to add further medical information to the core SCR of medications, allergies and adverse reactions. They were also able to decide whether or not to gain consent to do so.

However, the review of the content of the record, led by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, concluded that the SCR should be restricted to core data.

It said the content of the record should only be expanded “when we have built trust in the system and when patients request that we should do so.”

The latest letter to PCTs from Dr Caroline Tait, primary care clinical lead for the SCR programme, advises PCTs to check that patient consent has been given for any enrichment.

The letter adds: “Should a patient not have provided their explicit consent, SHAs and PCTs are advised to work with GP practices to either amend the SCR to hold only core information or gain explicit consent from each patient for that additional information to be held.

The letter adds that practices should be provided with appropriate support “to do this as quickly as possible”.

CfH told EHI Primary Care that it was now working with PCTs and GP practices to provide hands on support and guidance on responding to the letter.

A spokesperson said support would be specific to the system the practice is using and previous actions that may have been taken.

Latest statistics from CfH show that 514 GP practices are now live with the SCR and 3,279, 683 records have been created.

The BMA’s General Practitioner Committee this week told local medical committees that “constructive discussions” were taking place about the practicalities of implementing the SCR review recommendations and that further communications and guidance would follow in due course.

It added: “Until this guidance is forthcoming we would advise LMCs and practices to continue dialogue with PCTs but practices should not feel pressured to create SCRs.”