VOTE: Patient records "will be secure"

9:02pm Tuesday 1st January 2008

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CLAIMS that thousands of people were to shun a Bolton scheme to keep patients' medical records online have been denied by the Government.

Reports had suggested around 200,000 people in five pilot areas were set to opt out of the summary care record system which would allow health professionals across the country to access key medical information at the touch of a button, amid concerns over security.

But the Government insists less than one per cent of people - 3,425 - eligible to be entered into the scheme, being piloted in Bolton, Bury, Birmingham, Dorset and Bradford, had refused to have their details uploaded.

Officials also insisted the IT programme to introduce the mass database had the "highest standards of security".

Staff in accident and emergency at the Royal Bolton Hospital will become the first casualty workers in the country to have access to patients' medical records online.

Health workers at the NHS out-of-hours service at Landmark House can already view GP records of almost 50,000 Bolton people.

But some family doctors in Bolton have expressed concern about the safety of the new system.

Dr Chris Woods from the Halliwell Surgery said: "Security of this system is a concern for me because all the information will be collated on a large central computer."

The issue has been raised after campaign group, the Big Opt Out, said it estimated 200,000 people have requested or downloaded documents allowing them to demand their medical details are excluded from the database.

Concerns were heightened after it was revealed nine NHS Trusts had lost patient information.

Security procedures at Royal Bolton Hospital are being reviewed after a laptop computer, containing the medical details of around 350 patients, was stolen last month.

The summary care record scheme will be evaluated before it is extended nationwide and all patients will be asked for permission to upload basic data from their GP records, such as current medication, allergies, and long term conditions.