South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has launched one of the most sophisticated patient records yet created in the UK. MyHealthBox builds on Microsoft's HealthVault platform and draws information from the trust's own electronic medical record, local GP systems, and patient input.

Mike Denis, the trust's director of information strategy, says it wants to go far beyond simply giving patients access to their records, and that it really wants to make them co-producers of their care. Still, as Dame Fiona Caldicott has acknowledged, just giving patients access to their records by the government's target of 2015 will be difficult enough for some areas.

More information on how this will be done may emerge in the NHS information strategy - now very nearly almost definitely due next week. Dame Fiona herself told a conference that information governance should not be a barrier to this, or any other, information sharing; an argument met with some scepticism by EHI Primary Care readers.

Meantime, the EHI Awards 2012 in association with BT are hotting up. Insight carries a feature about a simple - but effective - project to share information between services in Plymouth. If you're doing similarly good work, why not see if you could be a winner this year? And don't forget that nominations are open for Healthcare IT Champion of the Year.

Maudsley launches HealthVault-based PHR

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has launched personal online health records for its patients, using Microsoft's HealthVault platform.

Checkpoint 2 takes out more CSSs

Three NHS commissioning support services have been scrapped after failing the latest 'checkpoint' review by the NHS Commissioning Board.

NHS Direct to pilot GP appointment app

NHS Direct is considering a pilot that will allow patients in Lincolnshire to use a smartphone app to book appointments with their GP.

NHS Herefordshire links GPs with EDT Hub

NHS Herefordshire will connect another 76 GP practices to its electronic document transfer hub and expands its use to include maternity and A&E documentation, taking the total to 100.

Warning against making IG a 'black art'

Information governance is turned into a "black art" by some people in the NHS who use it as a barrier to sharing information, an Information Commissioner's Office spokesperson has said.

Record access by 2015 a 'tall order'

The government's pledge to give all patients access to their electronic health records by October 2015 is a "tall order" for busy GPs to fulfill, Dame Fiona Caldicott has said.

"This is like good cop, bad cop. The nice person says all she wants to do is help, but there's someone in the other room getting ready to ruin your career and fine your organisation hundreds of thousands of pounds."

"This is not just giving view access. We are hoping that patients will become co-producers/designers of their own care."

Mike Denis, director of information strategy at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, talks about its MyHealthBox project.

EHI Primary Care

The EHI Primary Care Group is dedicated to discussions of the issues covered in EHI Primary Care's news pages.