The uploading of the Summary Care Records should be stopped immediately because of high proportion of errors

See Telegraph article. "GP leaders in Birmingham told Pulse magazine that the organisation running the system, Connecting for Health, knows about the error rate and has not taken action.

Dr Robert Morley, executive secretary of Birmingham Local Medical Committee, which represents local doctors, told Pulse: "The fact that in Birmingham 80,000 patients have had their records uploaded, the majority without their consent, and one in ten have been put at risk from inaccurate data, shows we believe that the uploading of the Summary Care Record has to be stopped immediately because they are not safe.""

Gillian Braunold, clinical director for the NHS Summary Care Record Programme, argues that NHS electronic records protect patients

Gillian Braunold, clinical director for the NHS Summary Care Record Programme, claims in this Guardian article that NHS electronic records protect patients. Well she would, wouldn't she?

If you read the Comments beneath the article I think you will gain a truer grasp of the real drivers behind this monumentally expensive Connecting for Health project.

And please read my blog post from last year about government plans to sell patient records to insurance companies and 'research organisations', aka drug companies.

British Medical Association criticises the "breakneck speed" at which NHS patient database of Summary Care Records is being set up.

BBC News reports unease among doctors at this fast-developing IT project, amid security fears and other concerns.

Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA, has said: "Patients' right to opt out is crucial, and it is extremely alarming that records are apparently being created without them being aware of it.

"If the process continues to be rushed, not only will the rights of patients be damaged, but the limited confidence of the public and the medical profession in NHS IT will be further eroded."

I expressed my own concerns about this in an earlier post on this blog. Government databases have a notorious record of insecurity.

A £13 billion computer system intended to overhaul the NHS records system has been so dogged with problems that it is damaging patient care.

£13bn NHS computer system failures affecting patient care
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Appointments for suspected cancer sufferers, accident and emergency treatment and scheduled operations have all been delayed by problems, and complaints have soared.

The glitches came with the introduction of the Connecting for Health computer network to the first NHS trusts to use it, which were in London.

The problems will concern those who have expressed doubts over the feasibility of the overarching system, which has yet to be brought into use nationwide.

Enfield Primary Care Trust was one of the organisations using the Connecting for Health system and problems with it led to 63 patients with Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust having delayed operations.

Last May, the same trust cancelled 272 operations for 'non-clinical reasons' and 20 patients did not receive their scheduled post-operative check-up because their care was not sufficiently well tracked."

Richard Granger, the chief executive of Connecting for Health, the over-budget NHS IT project, has said he will leave his post in October.

Anger as best paid civil servant goes - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Britain's best-paid civil servant is to quit as the head of NHS information technology, claiming the new, accident-prone computer system is on track.

Richard Granger, the chief executive of Connecting for Health, said he would leave the post, and its £290,000-a-year salary, in October. "There is no doubt about the programme's achievability," said Mr Granger, who took up the role in October 2002. "Most of the building blocks are now in place."

Karen Jennings, the head of health at Unison, the NHS's biggest trade union, said Mr Granger's optimism was at odds with the views of the "majority of NHS staff".

She said: "Technically... things are finally coming together. But lessons must be learned from the way these over-ambitious, big-bang IT projects have been brought in late and so over-budget.""

IT delays are 'endangering patients', it is thought.

IT delays 'endangering patients' - Guardian

Extract:

"Patient safety across the NHS in England is being put at risk by long delays in a £12bn programme to modernise IT systems, according to a study of opinion among senior managers reported today by the British Medical Journal.

The study found that hospitals were left relying on outdated patient information systems and some were considering buying interim programmes while they wait for the agency responsible for IT procurement, Connecting for Health, to deliver on its promises."


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Hewitt faces storm over website leaks

Hewitt faces storm over website leaks - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Patricia Hewitt faced protests last night as the row over security breaches in an NHS website containing confidential information about junior doctors deepened.

The Department of Health was forced to suspend the site, which handles job applications from junior doctors, after the second security breach in 24 hours.

The Health Secretary came under fire after it emerged the junior doctors' leaders had warned her at the start of last month that the site was not secure."

"In a further twist, it also emerged that a security breakdown in the NHS's new national computer system, Connecting for Health, led to the names, addresses and mobile phone numbers of consultants and doctors who attended a meeting on the issue earlier this year being placed on the internet.

Dr Jo Hilborne, the chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors' Committee, said: "What little faith anyone had left in this system has evaporated."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)