By Ian Quinn
Inaccurate GP record-keeping is to blame for any wrong information in Summary Care Records which may be putting patients at risk, the Department of Health has claimed.
It comes as a leaked official report into the national rollout found some records contain life-threatening inaccuracies and was unreliable as a result.
The report, by Professor Trish Greenhalgh, professor of primary healthcare at University College London, comes as GP leaders launch a renewed bid for the rollout of electronic records to be shelved.
'If there are errors, they are derived form GP records,' a spokesperson for NHS Connecting for Health (CFH) told Pulse, adding that the Government was still considering a BMA call for the acceleration in the rollout to millions of patients across the country to be halted.
Yesterday GPC chair Dr Laurence Buckman revealed GP leaders had passed a motion condemning the handling of the rollout.
He said: ‘It says the GPC deplores the recent fast rollout of SCR in England. We seek the halting of this rollout, and that DH, and CFH discuss these issues urgently with the profession.'
'The motion means I will be writing to DH and CFH immediately.'
Connecting for Health refused to comment on the details of the UCL report.
An interim report released by Professor Greenhalgh last year found the electronic records were of little use in A&E and frequently failed during out-of-hours work. Researchers collated 20,000 words and more than 100 case studies in a two-year probe but found little solid evidence of benefit.
Connecting for Health managers have been desperately hoping the new report would find more proof of the benefit of the rollout, which could be axed if the Conservatives win the forthcoming general election.
The BMA has called for accelerated rollout of the Summary Care Record to be halted The BMA has called for accelerated rollout of the Summary Care Record to be halted
