EXCLUSIVE

Pharmacists concerned about their liability when viewing additional patient information should develop a “sixth sense” for when to use it, NHS England’s records access lead has said.

In response to concerns from C+D readers that pharmacists could be liable if they fail to check each patient’s summary care record (SCR), NHS England commissioning manager for strategic services Mohammed Hussain said they must use their judgment to decide when SCR access is appropriate.

SCR access is being gradually rolled out to every English pharmacy from this month, and Mr Hussain said pharmacists should view patient records in the same way they do a telephone.

“As a practising pharmacist, I can pick up a telephone and contact a prescriber [to] get more information about the patient’s medical record. [SCR] is another tool in your pharmacy to access information,” Mr Hussain told C+D last week (November 16).

"Stressful" without information access

Mr Hussain said it is “very challenging and stressful” when he is unable to contact a prescriber for extra information at the weekend. “By having access to the SCR, I can almost extend my weekdays into my weekend,” he said.

SCR is already “massively used” by hospital pharmacists, he stressed. “As a profession, we’re using it extensively.”

“Do you want to work in an environment where you can access more information and provide better patient care, or do you want to do what we’ve always done because we’ve been constrained?” he added.

NHS England has discussed pharmacists’ liability concerns with pharmacy bodies, which all “see the value in having [more patient] information”, he added. 

Over the past month, C+D has learned that pharmacies will be able to opt-out of the SCR rollout, and revealed the first pharmacies to take part in the initiative.

Are you comfortable accessing patients' summary care records?

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