Pharmacy bodies have called for greater access to patient data following news that patients will be able to view their medical records online from 2015.

The Independent Pharmacy Federation (IPF) said access would be "hugely beneficial", while Pharmacy Voice and PSNC said that the move would improve patient safety.

The calls follow an announcement earlier this month from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) that it will lead a programme to provide patients with online access to medical records by 2015. The project, in line with the Department of Health's information strategy, will give patients access to their health records and test results, and the ability to request repeat prescriptions and book GP appointments online.

"I don't believe patients would have a major problem with it, because we already have a considerable amount of patient data" Fin McCaul, IPF

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IPF chairman Fin McCaul told C+D that reviewing a patient's medical data would help pharmacists to clarify the GP's diagnosis and "understand what their care plan is", proving "hugely beneficial" for patients with conditions such as asthma or COPD. "It's not unusual to get asthmatics and COPD patients turning up to A&E on a Saturday afternoon or Monday morning when they can't get hold of a GP. If we have access to their notes, we can give them more informed support," he said.

Allowing pharmacists to not only read patient records, but also write in them, would ensure GPs were aware of the services the patients had received from the pharmacist. "By doing an MUR on the patient and then reviewing their [asthma] scores three months later, we can demonstrate to the GP how improvement is going," Mr McCaul added.

To gain access to this data, pharmacists would first have to explain the benefits, said Mr McCaul. "I don't believe patients would have a major problem with it, because we already have a considerable amount of patient data, in terms of dispensing histories. So the confidentiality aspect is nothing new... there needs to be a lot of rules around governance, but I don't think it's insurmountable."

Allowing pharmacists to view patient records could "improve patient safety, support pharmacists in helping people to get the most out of their medicines and improve continuity of care", said Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott.

"When a patient has been in hospital, their medicines are often changed. If the pharmacist can view the notes made by the hospital doctors, they can help the patient ensure that the changes are carried through and the supply of medicines the patient has at home are the right ones," he said.

PSNC NHS IT lead Lindsay McClure echoed Mr Darracott's comments. "Giving community pharmacists appropriate role-based access to electronic patient records has the potential to greatly improve patient safety, support the development of new services for patients, improve interdisciplinary working and increase the quality of care to patients," she said.

The comments follow the Aston Medication Adherence Study earlier this year, which also called for pharmacists to have better access to GP records.

Pharmacist Chris Langley, a principle investigator on the study, said passing on accurate data from GPs to pharmacists was essential for targeting patients with poor adherence. "Certainly sharing information between GPs and community pharmacists is going to be the way forward to tackle the issues we've identified in the project," he said.

"In order to extend that to other treatment groups, we need to make sure the right information is recorded... to enable adherence patterns to be mapped: the medication that's given out; the amount that's prescribed; and the frequency the patient is supposed to take [their drug]," he added.

Last year, a pilot scheme designed to evaluate the benefits of providing pharmacists in Bradford with access to patients' summary care records was suspended, with PSNC branding the decision "disappointing".