http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/main-conten ... data-showsSummary Care Record improving GP out-of-hours prescribing and helping patients die where they choose, DH data showsBy Nigel Praities | 03 Feb 2012
Exclusive: Out-of-hours GPs are changing their prescribing decisions after accessing a patient's Summary Care Record in around a third of cases, Pulse has learned, as the Department of Health prepares to publish data outlining the achievements of the programme so far.
Some 1,600 records are now viewed each week by out-of-hours providers and in other urgent care and hospital settings, with the programme's clinical director Dr Gillian Braunold claiming the rollout has now reached a ‘critical mass' in some areas.
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But Dr Peter Swinyard, chair of the Family Doctor Association, said he believed many patients did not want a Summary Care Record.
‘In my practice we have an opt-in policy - only seven have opted in. I don´t believe anyone in casualty will have time to access it and in the out-of-hours setting patients will have a list of repeat prescriptions from their GP in any case.
"It´s really just technology for its own sake. It doesn´t justify the millions being spent on it. In times of financial stringency they should scrap most of the IT programme and invest the money in patient care."
And Dr Neil Bhatia, a GP in Yateley, Hampshire said: ‘Many doctors still don´t see the benefit of it. They may open it, may glance at it but that doesn´t mean to say that it has actually been useful in the consultation.
