Summary Care Records
In response to the concerns raised by the British Medical Association regarding the roll out of the Summary Care Records programme Director of the Patients Association Katherine Murphy said
"The health service should not put in place bureaucratic obstacles to patient choice because they are worried about what patients might choose to do.The BMAs concerns should be addressed immediately and we agree that every patient whose records are going to be uploaded should be sent an opt out form. There is a real danger that an intitiative that will benefit patients is going to turn into the usual complete mess. Many patients are rightly concerned about their confidentiality and consent and if there is even the slightest impression that this is being pushed through it will generate a feeling of mistrust. People who might otherwise have consented could end up opting out which would be the last thing everybody wants."
To read more about the concerns of the BMA click the link below:
http://web2.bma.org.uk/pressrel.nsf/wlu/SGOY-83DDX9?OpenDocument&vw=wfmms
The opt out form can be downloaded from the the following website, but the Patients Association would ask you to consider the potential benefits of taking part in the intiaitive before opting out:
http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/scr/documents/optout.pdf
(The opt out form is on the last page)
