No sealed envelopes for first summary records

No ‘sealed envelope’ technology will be available for the very first release of the NHS Care Record Service next year, it has emerged.

Interim arrangements are planned, however, to safeguard the patient’s right to stop information being shared against their wishes.

The ‘sealed envelope’ is a concept developed during public consultation to represent the security that will surround parts of a shared electronic record to which a patient wishes to restrict access.

A wish may be expressed, for example, that sensitive personal information can be accessed by a patient’s GP but not shared with other members of the health team. Anyone who breaks into a seal would trigger an alert and be required to account for their actions.

At a briefing during the NHS Care Record Development Board (CRDB) it was confirmed that no sealed envelopes would be available for the very first release of the summary record due to be provided by the NCRS in the late summer of 2006.

It is understood the technology is challenging and it is proving difficult to ensure that the ‘envelope’ is really sealed and not just a password protected file.

CRDB chair, Harry Cayton said: “For the first patients and the first clinicians, they won’t have the sealed envelope.”

Patients will not lose control over their personal information, however. A Connecting for Health spokesman explained: “The approach will involve discussion between the patient and clinician about what they think appropriate to put on the shared record in the first instance.”

Cayton added that the CRDB would make sure its principles [about giving patients control over information sharing] would be applied to a system that did not immediately have a sealed envelope. He added: “We will need to review the Care Record Guarantee in light of the availability of the sealed envelope. There’s an indication that people will have access to a sealed envelope.”