By summer, the “SCR 1-Click” update will provide pharmacies in England with access to the SCR “via the existing pharmacy system, avoiding the need to separately login” to the web viewer, NHS Digital told C+D.

NHS Digital is developing the “SCRa application” with PharmOutcomes and healthcare software company Sonar Informatics, it said, “with more [suppliers] planned to follow, so that this capability can be provided to as many pharmacies as possible across England”.

The SCRa is an online portal where pharmacists can access the SCR from a machine logged in to the secure NHS network.

“By making access to SCR easier and more integrated, it will save time and improve user experience,” NHS Digital said.

According to the latest data from the NHS Business Services Authority, over 95% of pharmacies across England currently have access to the SCR.

Some pharmacies access the record more than 200 times a week, NHS Digital said.

Sharing GP information

In addition to the update, NHS Digital is also “working on developing messaging capability and data standards that will allow the sharing of information between pharmacy and GP practice systems”, it told C+D.

Its programme head for integrated pharmacy, Mohammed Hussain, said in May last year that SCR version 2.0 “will be much better”, enabling pharmacists to do “much more”.

Last month, C+D reported on a London pharmacy that has been granted read-write access to patient records.