Your medical records to be accessed across the UK (From Echo)

Your medical records to be accessed across the UK

9:00am Monday 1st December 2008 in

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PATIENTS in the district are to be among the first in the country to benefit from a groundbreaking scheme which could save their lives while they are in other parts of the country.

The scheme will enable patients’ GP records to be accessed by doctors and hospitals in other parts of the UK in the event of an emergency.

It will mean medics can find out at the push of a button if a patient from Basildon, Billericay, Wickford or Thurrock, is allergic to medication, or has special medical needs, when they are away from their home town, or when their GP surgery is closed.

NHS South West Essex, the district’s primary care trust, has been working closely with NHS Care Record Service to develop the project, called the summary care record. It is only the sixth NHS trust in the country to introduce it.

At first, it will see the national database hold vital information about allergies, current prescriptions and any previous adverse reactions to medicines a person has experienced.

Eventually, other significant information, such as details of on-going health conditions, referrals and test results, could also be added.

This should reduce the chance of misdiagnosis, being prescribed the wrong medication or suffering an allergic reaction, especially in emergency situations. It will also eventually mean patients with long-term or complex conditions will have the extra security of not having to carry around, or remember, details of their condition and medication.

Before the computerised record is set up, NHS South West Essex chiefs are writing to patients across the district to tell them about the scheme and to give them the choice of opting out.

The scheme will be phased in over the next year as more GPs are ready to take part.

Almost 15,000 patients from the first five GP practices taking part will receive an information pack today.

Barbara Stuttle, deputy chief executive at NHS South West Essex who is responsible for the introduction of the scheme, said: “I am pleased local people are to be some of the first in the country to benefit from this innovation.”