Medical Records

Health written question – answered at on 3 November 2010.

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Photo of David Davis David Davis Conservative, Haltemprice and Howden

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to require explicit opt-in consent from a patient to any (a) proposal or (b) request to add data to their summary care record.

Photo of Simon Burns Simon Burns The Minister of State, Department of Health

The main recommendation of the recent review of the content of the summary care record (SCR), led by Sir Bruce Keogh, was that the core information should only include a patient's medications, allergies, and adverse reactions. Any additional information beyond this should only be added to the SCR with the explicit consent of the patient.

We firmly believe that it is for patients to decide if any additional information should be included in their SCR, supported by appropriate professionals. Following publication of the outcome of the SCR review a letter was sent by officials to each primary care trust (PCT) highlighting that any information added to a patient's SCR over and above the core information should only be done with the explicit consent of the patient. Where additional information has already been added to patients' SCRs, patient consent must be confirmed for the additional information to be retained. Where the explicit consent of the patient is not confirmed, PCTs will advise general practitioner practices to amend the SCR to hold only core information.

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