NHS IT minister says SCR ‘will continue’

The summary care record roll out

The government has said that uploading of Summary Care Records will continue to take place, in its first public statement on the future of the SCR since gaining office.

In a Parliamentary written answer published yesterday health minister Simon Burns told Conservative MP Michael Fallon that uploads would go-ahead. Fallon had filed a question asking the health secretary whether he would make it his policy to end uploading of data to the SCR.

However in his written answer Burns said uploading of information would continue so long as GP practices and primary care trusts agreed that patients had been “adequately informed” and properly enabled to opt—out should they wish and that GP practices and PCTs were satisfied that data was fit for sharing.

The caveats to uploading outlined by Burns were those agreed by the BMA and Department of Health last month following a suspension on uploads in April because of BMA concerns about the accelerated roll-out across five strategic health authorities.

Publication of an independent evaluation of the SCR by University College, London, originally due in April, will now be published shortly, EHI Primary Care understands.

The coalition’s position on the future of the SCR has been the subject of some speculation as the Liberal Democrats had been committed to scrapping the scheme before the election while the Conservative Party’s position was less clear cut.

Last week Dr Grant Ingrams, co-chair of the BMA and RCGP’s Joint IT Committee, said he hoped the SCR would continue although he said the BMA would continue to press for an opt-in consent model.