Switch to ‘permission to access’ on SCR

Patient information will be uploaded to the Summary Care Record with implied consent and patients will then be able to choose whether to give “permission to access” under the new consent model for the SCR.

Individual GPs will also be given discretion to decide whether the initial upload of information should include only details on patients’ allergies and medications or additional data as well. The details of this are still being discussed with the profession.

The proposals, which were approved by Connecting for Health’s Summary Care Record Advisory Group last month, are currently being discussed with a range of key stakeholders. The revised model will then go forward for approval by CfH’s Care Records Service Programme Board in September.

Dr Gillian Braunold, clinical director for the SCR, told EHI Primary Care that detailed documents on the new model were being prepared.

She added: “In essence the model is implicit consent with ‘consent to view’ which we are calling ‘permission to access’. The first thing that will be uploaded is medications and allergy information but if GPs are comfortable they will be able to send more information on the initial upload although allergies and medication will be the only things to be uploaded automatically.”

Dr Braunold said the details of how this would work were still being discussed with the profession.

The new model will be used for national roll-out of the SCR and Dr Braunold said that, following approval of the model, she would be discussing with the early adopter PCTs how each trust wished to migrate to the revised consent arrangements.

The technical solution for the new model will also have to be developed by GP computer suppliers before it can be used by GP practices.

The existing consent model for the SCR in use by the early adopter PCTs means that, once information had been uploaded on an implied consent basis, patient information can be accessed without the need for further consent. Explicit consent to the SCR is only gained when patients present opportunistically at the surgery.

The model was criticised by University College London’s evaluation report on the SCR which called for an urgent review of the consent model after finding that patients in the early adopter areas remained ignorant of the basic issues despite an extensive public information campaign.

The evaluation team recommended that the SCR Programme Board and Advisory Group should look particularly at the ‘consent to view’ model which is used by both Scotland and Wales and means patients must give their explicit consent to view the record at each encounter.

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Implied consent set to be scrapped for SCR