- Date published
- September 2009
- Pages
- 3
- Download publication [36kb PDF]
Background
The Conservative party has published a consultation about the personalised ownership of health records. The full document can be downloaded from the Conservatives website.
Responses were invited on a number of important questions:
1. How much control do patients want over their health records?
2. What should be the limits to patient control?
3. Should there be any exceptions to patient control?
4. What provisions can be made to safeguard the rights of patients to control their health records and the rights of doctors to base their clinical decisions on a reliable evidence base of patient information?
The Health Foundation commissioned a literature review in 2009 to examine what happens when patients are given more access to their health records and, over the summer, we brought together a group of over 40 experts, including senior clinicians, patient champions and advocacy organisations, health service researchers and Department of Health staff to discuss the findings of the review and the strategic role of patient access to their health records. This response is based upon the findings of this research and consultation with experts.
The Health Foundation response
The Health Foundation response is premised on our belief that patients should have a greater role in managing their health and their treatment. There is a strong body of research demonstrating that patients who are more fully engaged in managing their health have better outcomes.
Giving patients control over their health records is necessary but not sufficient to shift the balance of power within the health sector from the service provider to the patient. Control of patient records needs to be seen in the context of the relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient.
The debate around patient records is therefore not simply about access to information, it is about the model of care. Giving patients control over their health records can be a driver to enable patients to take more control over their health and manage their own health and care more effectively, and it can be a lever for improving the quality of care.
The Health Foundation’s research has found that when patient access to, and control over, their health records supports a new paradigm of health relationships, it:
- improves relationships with clinicians by creating transparency, promoting informed discussions and engendering a sense of involvement
- means patients are better informed about care and medication, and enabled to correct errors and omissions
- provides flexibility for patients – who don’t have to go to the GP practice or hospital
- increases patients' ability to contribute to decision making
- increases people’s ability to manage their own health care and their confidence to do so
- improves compliance in heart disease, hyperlipidemia and depression.
Conclusion
There is a strong case for removing the current barriers to patient access and control of their health records to enable the development of a new paradigm of relationship between patients and clinicians. Given that currently there is little experience of meaningful sharing of health records, patient groups, clinicians’ representative bodies, NHS management and the legal profession should be brought together to work through, in detail, the implications of this principle for practice.
