This summer every household in England should receive a leaflet explaining the NHS's plan to make their health records accessible electronically. The new care records service will enable the computerised booking of appointments (based on patients' choice), electronic prescribing, the automatic transfer of complete records between general practitioners when a patient moves, as well as providing instant medical data when needed for emergency care.

Looking further ahead, the records service will create a new medical evidence base, consisting of accurate data about consistently identified individual patients, collected across health and social care. Among the users of this resource will be patients themselves, who will be able to view their records over the internet. In short, the care records service will transform the purpose of the medical record from a record of information generated by health professionals primarily for their own reference1 into a shared resource produced and used by all concerned with the process of care.