In notes to an open letter to GPs from Summary Care Records clinical director Gillian Braunold, CfH said it does not include a opt out form with the information sent to patients due to experience from the early adopter areas.
It says that some patients misread what they were sent and returned the opt out form when all they wanted was further information. Others returned the form in the prepaid envelopes included in packs, rather than to their GP surgeries, which are responsible for allowing or blocking access.
The British Medical Association has repeatedly called for an opt out form to be included with the information. It also recently called for a suspension of the uploading of records.
Braunold stresses in the letter that no GP practice will move to the Summary Care Record "without full agreement and training". She adds that patients can opt out of the system at any time, and that "in many cases practices will not go live immediately after the 12 week period, but sometime after when they have received the appropriate training and software
upgrades".
In an article for Guardian.co.uk, Braunold says that "high profile deaths and countless near misses" have resulted from the absence of immediately available healthcare records. "If key information was available at a time when the risk is highest, the vulnerable, the sick and the old would be better protected," she adds.
Staff
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