Big news for electronic patient records this week. Doctors’ representative body, The British Medical Association has called for uploads to the Summary Care Records service to be halted. Smarthealthcare has the story:

The British Medical Association has written to health minister Mike O’Brien, expressing ’serious concern’ about the widespread introduction of Summary Care Records

The BMA also repeated its recent call for opt-out forms to be included with the information being sent to patients, and demanded that comments made by the BMA be withdrawn from a promotional video made by NHS Connecting for Health.

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The Department of Health denied that the introduction of SCRs was being rushed, as it has taken place over five years. “All patients in England over the age of 16 who are registered with a GP will be written to personally about the introduction of Summary Care Records. We absolutely support the right of any patient to opt out of having a record and have provided various options to make this process straightforward,” said a spokesperson.

The roll-out process for Summary Care Records has long been a target of criticism from privacy and patient rights campaigners. But the BMA throwing it’s weight behind the criticism is a significant development. It’s clear from the government response that uploads are not likely to be halted any time soon. But this will add weight to calls for a complete re-design of the roll-out process. Read the whole story at Smarthealthcare.com.