Government retains opt out for SCRs

Health minister Simon Burns said that patients contacted in future about SCRs will receive an opt out form and a prepaid envelope. There will also be awareness campaigns to inform the 30m people who have already received letters saying their health records will be turned into SCRs. However, these 30m will not receive new letters individually, on the grounds of cost. So far, only 3m of these patients have SCRs. He also said that the scope of SCRs will be limited to demographic details, medications, allergies and adverse reactions, and that patients will be able to request permission to view their records at the point of healthcare. Patients will have to give explicit permission for more data to be added. Burns based his decisions on published reviews by Joan Saddler and Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the Department of Health's director of patient and public affairs and medical director respectively. Saddler said: "Including the opt out form in patient letters reinforces our commitment to their right to choose not to have an SCR. Patients must be the ones who decide if any additional information should be included in their SCR, supported by appropriate professionals. This is the only way we will build trust in the SCR and its use." Burns said: "I am pleased that a consensus has emerged about the importance of the SCR in supporting safe patient care, as long as the core information contained in it is restricted to medication, allergies and adverse reactions. Coupled with improvements to communication with patients which reinforce their right to opt out, we believe this draws a line under the controversies that the SCR has generated up to now. "We see this review as having taken a significant step towards the goal of patients owning their records and using them to share decision-making with healthcare professionals," he added. Kable's senior health analyst Victor Almeida said the only way SCRs would work is if a large proportion of the population used them. "The only way to achieve this is by setting the default to opt in," he said. Using opting out as the default, which has been the wish of privacy campaigners, would undermine the use of electronic health records. "We would end up with a tiny system which would defeat the purpose of its own existence. 3m is still a poor start, but I'm glad this government at least recognises the importance of SCRs," Almeida said. Phil Booth, national coordinator of campaign group No2ID, condemned the decision. "This is an appalling betrayal," he said. "At conference, Andrew Lansley promised patients 'no decision about me, without me' yet barely a week later he's throwing away the medical privacy of millions."