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Kinesh Patel's proposal (BMJ 2011;343:d4212) to place patient records
onto a smartcard to facilitate access to patient records is pretty much
reflective of my understanding of the government's agenda for the 'modern'
NHS.
Some acute trusts have already begun placing their patients' records
on the 'cloud' and the requirement for summary care records,
interoperability of clinical systems, clinical coding and the like all
points towards access to medical records being controlled by the patient
rather than a clinician. Tomorrow's patient will authorise access to
their unified records by presenting, as if it were a credit card, their
NHS-issued smartcard to a clinician who will get paid according to the
clinical codes they enter for the treatment they provide - just like
secondary care does now with its 'payment by results' tariffs. The GPs'
patient lists will break-up as competition is enforced amongst clinicians
who will have to vie against each other to treat the patient ("customer").
A smartcarded NHS?
Kinesh Patel's proposal (BMJ 2011;343:d4212) to place patient records
onto a smartcard to facilitate access to patient records is pretty much
reflective of my understanding of the government's agenda for the 'modern'
NHS.
Some acute trusts have already begun placing their patients' records
on the 'cloud' and the requirement for summary care records,
interoperability of clinical systems, clinical coding and the like all
points towards access to medical records being controlled by the patient
rather than a clinician. Tomorrow's patient will authorise access to
their unified records by presenting, as if it were a credit card, their
NHS-issued smartcard to a clinician who will get paid according to the
clinical codes they enter for the treatment they provide - just like
secondary care does now with its 'payment by results' tariffs. The GPs'
patient lists will break-up as competition is enforced amongst clinicians
who will have to vie against each other to treat the patient ("customer").
Competing interests: No competing interests