Remote Access to Healthcare Records

Summary Care Record

A Summary Care Record (SCR) is a national database that holds electronic records of important patient information. This includes current medication, allergies and details of any previous reactions to medicines and is created from GP medical records. Enhanced or additional information can also be included in the SCR although this can only be included if patient consent has been received. If consent is given, the patient’s status on the clinical system will be changed, enabling additional information to be included in the SCR.

For those patients who are unable to consent, this organisation will always act in their best interests. For further detailed information, refer to NHS England’s Additional Information in SCR and the organisation’s Consent guidance.

Opting out

While there are many benefits to the SCR, patients may opt out of sharing information. To enable them to do so, staff are to ask them to complete a SCR patient consent preferences form.

By opting out of having a SCR, no information will be shared with authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals. Further reading can be found in the NHS England guidance titled Summary Care Records (SCR) – information for patients.

SCR usage

A SCR should only be viewed if the healthcare worker is involved in the patient's care. This is called a 'legitimate relationship'. The patient should be asked for their permission before their SCR is viewed. When it is not possible to ask for permission to view the SCR, healthcare professionals may act in the patient's best interests.

See the NHS England guidance titled View Summary Care Records (SCR) for more information.

Updating a SCR

When a patient’s discharge note is received from an alternative care setting, information regarding any prescribed medication is to be added to the patient’s record to ensure that an informed clinical decision can be achieved.

 Warley Road Surgery will automatically update the SCR when changes are made to ensure that the information is current and correct.

National Care Records Service

The National Care Records Service (NCRS) is a service that permits health and care professionals to access and update a range of patient and safeguarding information across regional Integrated Care Service boundaries. NCRS enables any authorised clinician, care worker and/or administrator, in any health or care setting, to access a patient’s information to support that patient’s direct care.