West Lancashire GPs and the local Integrated Care Board work with local NHS care providers to allow doctors and nurses in various care settings, including A&E and Out of Hours, to view a limited but vital amount of your clinical information that is held on a GP practice’s computer system.
This is called a Summary Care Record (SCR).
Having access to a patient’s SCR will help ensure that:
1 NHS staff treating you have essential information about you
2 Your doctors and nurses, together with you, will be able to make informed decisions about your care.
At a minimum, the SCR holds important information about:
- current medications
- allergies and details of any previous bad reactions to medicines
- the name, address, date of birth and NHS number of the patient
Additional information in the SCR, such as details of long-term conditions, significant medical history or specific communications needs, is now included by default for patients with an SCR unless they have previously told the NHS that they did not want this information to be shared.
When registered with a GP practice in England, your SCR is created automatically, unless you have opted out and is uploaded to the ‘Spine‘. It will then be updated automatically. When new patients are registered, the practice should check the patient is happy to have a SCR.
Security and the SCR
Data within the SCR is protected by secure technology. Users must have a smartcard with the correct codes set. Each use is recorded. A patient can make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to NHS Digital to find out the organisation that accessed their SCR and the date/time of the access.
A patient can also opt out of having a SCR by returning a completed opt-out form to their GP practice.
Click here for a SCR opt-out form
Patient safety and confidentiality are two of our most fundamental and important concerns. Patients can choose not to allow a doctor or nurse to see their medical record by saying ‘no’ when their consent is asked for.