Patients to get final say on who sees NHS records

The NHS care records development board was set to adopt a so-called "permission to view" model this week, with a formal announcement due today. Gillian Braunold, clinical director for the summary care record, said the new model greatly simplified the consent model trialled in five early adopter primary care trusts.

It will still see records created for patients by their GP practice unless they actively opt out. But it introduces a requirement for patients to grant their "express permission" to share the record at every subsequent clinical encounter.

Too many complications

The former system had been criticised as too complicated. It was also bitterly opposed by some clinicians, with the British Medical Association and others refusing to endorse it and Caldicott Guardian confidentiality protectors questioning its ethics and legal standing.

Dr Braunold said the new model copies the one used successfully in Wales and Scotland and follows recommendations made in a May report by University College London. The report found that patients saw the benefits of the summary care record but wanted control over who saw it.

The simplified model has the backing of the BMA, Royal College of Nursing, medical defence unions, chief information officers and the General Medical Council, said Dr Braunold. She added: "Staff also feel that they need the protection of asking first. They are finding information governance quite hard."

It was a huge relief to have reached agreement, she said. "Now we can start to talk about the content of the summary care record."

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