Basildon hospital pharmacists use SCR

Pharmacists at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are piloting use of the Summary Care Record.

They are using the system to evaluate whether it can reduce the amount of time they spend chasing up patient drug histories and the time taken asking patients information about their medications and allergies.

The SCR was created as part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS. After a slow start and years of wrangling about security and consent issues, the system is being rolled out across England to enable better sharing of summary patient information between health professionals working in different care settings.

The basic SCR contains medication and allergies. Patients can choose to opt out of having a summary care record, but less than one per cent have actually done so.

Pharmacists at Basildon University Hospital will use the system to access information about patients admitted to the hospital; such as medications being taken and allergies or adverse reactions to medicines.

Hospital pharmacists are estimated to currently spend an average of 41 minutes per patient chasing up the information on any given working day.

The pilot, which will run throughout October, will establish whether using the SCR can reduce the time taken finding records.

Lead pharmacist Helen McClay said it can take even longer, or be impossible, to access information out of working hours.

“On average it takes 41 minutes per patient, during working hours to obtain the required information from GPs. But pharmacy staff are unable to obtain this information out of hours as GP surgeries are closed.”

If use of the record proves successful, the trust is planning to make it a permanent process in all of its hospital admission units, as well as in A&E.

NHS South West Essex began to implement the SCR in 2009, and 82% of the primary care trust’s GP practices are offering patients the option of having their information put into the record.

The original article incorrectly stated that the SCR is dsigned for use in primary care, and the copy has been updated on 11.10.11.