Medical details of Wirral patients to be stored on national database

Mar 3 2010 by Laura Sharpe, Birkenhead News

THE MEDICAL details of everyone in Wirral will soon be stored on a national database.

Letters are being sent out to patients about the Summary Care Record (SCR), a government scheme to allow medics access to patients’ key health records.

Patients will be able to opt out of the Department for Health (DoH) Scheme which will see their records available nationally as well as locally.

Wirral GP Dr Peter Naylor said: "This information will save lives. It will be invaluable in circumstances where treatment occurs in settings with no current access to patients’ records - for example A&E departments, out-of-hours walk-in centres and the ambulance service.

"Only NHS staff will have access to the encrypted data, and it will be tightly controlled. If they are able, patients will be asked for their permission to view their record each time it is needed. An audit trail of everyone who views the information will also be kept."

Martin McEwan, NHS Wirral director of communications and engagement, said SCR was a completely different scheme and was part of a national plan by the DoH.

He said: "This is a national scheme being rolled out by the Department of Health. Only NHS professionals providing care or treatment to patients can access the records and the information will not be shared with any other organisation.

"Every measure has been put in place to ensure the information is stored safely, stays private and can only be viewed or accessed by those authorised to do so.

"NHS professionals will ask patients permission each time they want to view the records (as long as the patient is capable of answering).

"This internal NHS programme is being introduced to save lives. The security measures in place to control this system are more stringent than those applied to internet banking."