A couple of weeks ago, largely un-noticed, Connecting for Health made an announcement with potentially huge effects on the way that patient consent works for the Summary Care Record (SCR). Under new rules announced last month, the NHS will now be able to delete SCRs provided that they have not been used for treatment.

In the pilots of SCRs, patients were informed by letter that SCRs were going to be introduced and given three months to contact their doctor if they wanted to opt out. After three months, if they had not contacted their doctor, it was assumed that they consented to have a record and one was created for them.

Once a record had been created,  it could not be deleted in case it was required as evidence in any later kind of investigation or audit. Therefore, anyone who missed the three month window would be stuck having a record whether they wanted one or not.

However, under the new rules there is at least the potential of allowing patients the opportunity to opt out of the system the first time they seek treatment after the record is created. If this is put into practice, patients will be able to take the decision of whether or not to have a record by discussing the risks and benefits with their doctor and coming to a decision about whether or it’s for them -  a huge step forward for informed consent.