All Healthcare Professionals Should Have Secure Access to GP Record

EMIS An overwhelming majority of the British public - 85% - want any healthcare professional treating them to have secure electronic access to key data from the GP record, according to new research from YouGov. The majority of these believe this would:
  • Improve patient care (77%)
  • Reduce avoidable treatment errors (69%)
  • Save patients the frustration of having to repeat information to medical professionals other than their GP (67%)

The public is shocked that A&E doctors in particular do not have automatic access to information on long-term conditions, medication history or allergies, and fear it could lead to mistakes in treatment.

The YouGov poll for EMIS Group has revealed that over half the population (58%) are unaware that hospital doctors are often unable to electronically access information from a patient's GP medical record. Most A&E doctors either have to treat without it, or phone the GP to ask for information to be faxed through.

The poll found that almost two thirds of people (61%) are worried that failing to share vital information about their health with A&E doctors could result in treatment delays or potentially life-threatening medical errors.

Nearly one in three is shocked (30%) that it isn’t common practice for patient information to be shared electronically, while 40% are annoyed that A&E doctors may not have all the facts at their fingertips.

The findings come as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt renewed his call for patient records to be shared across the entire health and social care system, to ensure the NHS ‘reaches its potential' in providing integrated care to patients.

Chris Spencer, CEO of healthcare information specialist EMIS Group - which looks after the records of 40 million patients in the UK - said: "This survey confirms what we knew anecdotally to be true - that the vast majority of patients want clinicians to have access to their medical records at the point of care, and assume this happens as a matter of course.

"The reality is of course more complicated. Despite efforts to increase use of the Summary Care Record, and wider initiatives by forward-thinking system suppliers and local healthcare providers, data-sharing between clinicians is far from routine.

"Most A&E doctors are still in the position of having to phone the GP or ask for records to be faxed over, and data-sharing beyond urgent care is still under-developed.

"It's little wonder that people are worried about this - especially when proven systems exist to securely and successfully share patient records."

Nearly one in five people (19%) referred to a medical professional by their GP said they felt the clinician treating them had a poor knowledge oftheir medical history - five per cent said that mistakes had been made with their treatment for this reason.

Chris Spencer added: "Patients clearly want their records to be shared more effectively between medical professionals treating them. The technology exists to make this happen. Those of us operating across the healthcare landscape have a responsibility to make sure it does."

Related news articles:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2343 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 26th - 27th June 2014. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

About EMIS
EMIS is part of EMIS Group - the UK leader in connected healthcare software and services. EMIS systems hold over 40 million patient records and are used by nearly 6,000 healthcare organisations - from GP practices to community, child and mental health services. 53%* of GP practices in the UK use an EMIS system.

Founded by two forward-thinking GPs, EMIS helps clinicians share vital information, facilitating better, more efficient healthcare and supporting longer and healthier lives.

The company's flagship EMIS Web system enables secure shared access to a patient's whole-life electronic health record. It is the most widely-used GP clinical system in the UK.

Most Popular Now

AI Catches One-Third of Interval Breast …

An AI algorithm for breast cancer screening has potential to enhance the performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), reducing interval cancers by up to one-third, according to a study published...

Great plan: Now We need to Get Real abou…

The government's big plan for the 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS laid out a big role for delivery. However, the Highland Marketing advisory board felt the missing implementation...

Free AI Tools can Help Doctors Read Medi…

A new study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus shows that free, open-source artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help doctors report medical scans just as well as more...

Researchers Create 'Virtual Scienti…

There may be a new artificial intelligence-driven tool to turbocharge scientific discovery: virtual labs. Modeled after a well-established Stanford School of Medicine research group, the virtual lab is complete with an...

From WebMD to AI Chatbots: How Innovatio…

A new research article published in the Journal of Participatory Medicine unveils how successive waves of digital technology innovation have empowered patients, fostering a more collaborative and responsive health care...

Can Amazon Alexa or Google Home Help Det…

Computer scientists at the University of Rochester have developed an AI-powered, speech-based screening tool that can help people assess whether they are showing signs of Parkinson’s disease, the fastest growing...

New AI Tool Accelerates mRNA-Based Treat…

A new artificial intelligence (AI) model can improve the process of drug and vaccine discovery by predicting how efficiently specific mRNA sequences will produce proteins, both generally and in various...

AI also Assesses Dutch Mammograms Better…

AI is detecting tumors more often and earlier in the Dutch breast cancer screening program. Those tumors can then be treated at an earlier stage. This has been demonstrated by...

RSNA AI Challenge Models can Independent…

Algorithms submitted for an AI Challenge hosted by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) have shown excellent performance for detecting breast cancers on mammography images, increasing screening sensitivity while...

AI could Help Emergency Rooms Predict Ad…

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help emergency department (ED) teams better anticipate which patients will need hospital admission, hours earlier than is currently possible, according to a multi-hospital study by the...

Head-to-Head Against AI, Pharmacy Studen…

Students pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree routinely take - and pass - rigorous exams to prove competency in several areas. Can ChatGPT accurately answer the same questions? A new...

NHS Active 10 Walking Tracker Users are …

Users of the NHS Active 10 app, designed to encourage people to become more active, immediately increased their amount of brisk and non-brisk walking upon using the app, according to...