The Alresford Surgery Newsletter

Dr David Green, Dr Richard Cribb, Dr Peter Stokes
Dr Ann Lowman, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Dr Susan Wright
Station Road, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9JL
Telephone No. 01962 732345 Fax: 01962 736034
For general advice or reassurance NHS Direct 0845 46 47
Out of hours 0844 811 3060

Your Medical Records and the National Shared Electronic Record (or Spine)

A number of patients have been concerned about the Governments plans for centralising your records. This is an important issue and so here are some of the facts.

The Government is actively forming a centralised database of patient details. At present this includes administrative details such as date of birth and address on all patients. In the future a summary of your medical history will be available and at a later date your prescription details and further detailed information is also to be centralized onto what is called the "spine". The reason for this centralisation is that referrals and emergency work may be better and safer if information can be shared throughout the NHS. For instance if a casualty doctor knows your mediations, allergies and history if you are very unwell then he or she is better able to care for you.

Central to the practice of medicine is the clear understanding between doctor or nurse or receptionist and our patients that the information we share together is confidential. In the Alresford Surgery this is a major priority in the way we deal with your care. Your information is never passed outside the surgery unless we have your permission and you can have complete confidence in us. This relates to both paper and electronic information.

At present your administrative data is made available by the NHS to NHS staff throughout England. Later this year the NHS wishes to store more detailed information on you all. Differing layers of information will be available to different staff dependant upon their role. It is planned that a consultant or GP will have full access while a hospital secretary will only have partial access. The system assumes that you agree and you will not be asked for your permission before anyone accesses your information. Not one of over 300,000 NHS staff will have to ask you, although they are expected not to abuse the system. It is planned for this to be an Opt out system and therefore you will have to request that your records are not shared. The level of access by Police and Social Services has yet to be decided.

We, along with the British Medical Association and many of the public, are deeply concerned about this fundamental change to the way we handle your information. We believe the benefits will be small while the threats to confidentiality and civil liberties are large.

A local partial system is in use within the Hampshire area but data is shared only with your explicit and continual consent given face to face. This scheme has major safeguards built in and has been extensively reviewed by local GPs and Hospital Consultants. This is not what is planned nationally and we have no confidence that these major issues are fully understood and safeguarded in the proposed National Spine.

Further information is available from www.bma.org.uk and www.thebigoptout.org.

Be assured we are watching this issue very closely and will always act with the best interests of our patients and not the NHS administration or Government. You do not need to do anything at the moment as no changes have yet been made. We will keep you informed.

Partners at the Alresford Surgery (comments please to Peter Stokes)

Preston Candover

There will be no surgery running on 12th February. From 1st February surgeries move from Fridays back to Thursdays.