Bradford chosen as fifth Summary Care Record pilot

04 Dec 07

Bradford and Airedale PCT follows Bolton, Bury, Dorset and South Birmingham in signing up to the scheme, with a wider rollout across England expected next year,

Three practices in Keighley and one in Bradford have become the first in the area to sign up the scheme, with more practices due to join in early 2008.

Letters explaining how the summary care record works have started going out to over 40,000 patients in Bradford and Airedale. They will then be given 16 weeks to opt out of the service. If they do not, their records will then be uploaded on an implied consent basis.

Registration for Healthspace – which allows patients to view their own summary care record via a secure internet site – will start in January.

Dr John Connolly, a GP from the Ridge Medical Practice in Bradford, said: ‘At the moment, there is a lack of integration of health records in the NHS. Creating summary care records will bring the records system into the 21st century.’