Patients to have more control over NHS records

18^th October 2010 - Patients should be able to exercise much greater control over their NHS records, according to the Department of Health.

The change could see patients in England being able to log in to their health records from home, help fix inaccuracies and even interact with their doctor about how their treatment is going.

The proposal - part of the White Paper on health reform - is being put out to consultation by the Department of Health along with other initiatives designed to widen patient choice and improve information.

Christine Connelly, the Director General for Informatics, said it was important to take into account the fact that we live in an information age. “The information we have changes our perspective and influences the decisions we make each and every day,” she says in a statement. “The time has come to apply these principles to the delivery of health and care services. Building from a base of accurate care records the Information Revolution will deliver more informed patients, more engaged professionals, more efficient organisations and, ultimately, improved outcomes."

Logging in to health records

The government says patients given control of their NHS records would be able to help correct errors by notifying the doctor or professional responsible. They would also form a clearer understanding of their own health needs, treatments, care and other options available to them. The consultation document says the proposal opens up “exciting new possibilities” in which patients could interact directly online with those providing health care.

Patients would start with access to their GP’s records, followed by those held by other health and social care providers. However, it is being pointed out that medical records are sometimes scattered and incomplete, and that ability of a patient to ‘control’ their records would depend on the individual and the nature of the record and its content.

‘More choice and a louder voice’

Among the other proposals being put out to consultation are:

• Allowing patients to choose services from any willing provider
• Being able to choose who provides a diagnosis
• Having a choice of which team, led by a named consultant, patients want to be seen by and what that treatment is after diagnosis
• An extension of maternity choice to include pre-conception, antenatal and postnatal care
• Being able to choose treatment and the provider of treatment in mental health services
• An improvement in the choice of end of life care

The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, says in a statement: “Patients and service users should be in control and involved as much as they want to be in every decision about what, where, how and from whom they want to receive care. By giving people real choice over their care, we can build a patient-centred NHS that achieves outcomes for patients that are among the best in the world."