BMJ  2008;336:1452-1453 (28 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a479

Letters

Aspects of summary care records

Let’s put worry about computer security into perspective

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Greenhalgh et al found that patients were particularly concerned about computer security and inappropriate access for the proposed centrally stored medical record,¹ a tenth citing such concerns as justification to reject or at least remain undecided on the benefit of a Healthspace account.

Electronically stored patient information remains topical in relation to security^{2 3} and recent high profile breaches of security.⁴ However, these concerns must be viewed in the context of current arrangements. Human links in the patient record chain are far more vulnerable to error, and we have been alarmed at the ease with which we have obtained confidential patient details by telephone.

Faced with incomplete demographic details in an audit, we attempted to complete gaps in addresses, contact numbers and current treatments by telephoning patients’ own GP surgeries. We contacted 45 different GP receptions for information on 51 patients, successfully obtaining patient addresses or telephone numbers, or both, for . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham NG7 2UH

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