More than 96 percent of patients in England have a Summary Care Record (SCR). The SCR provides key clinical information about a patient sourced from their GP record. SCRs are used successfully in many care settings across the NHS, including accident and emergency departments, out-of-hours services and hospital pharmacies.
Community pharmacists and designated members of the pharmacy team can now, with patient consent, access an SCR for patients.
SCR access in community pharmacy has demonstrated benefits to patients by enabling access to more information so pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can provide a safer, more efficient and better-informed service for those patients who require it.1
The ability to access SCR is an essential requirement for the delivery of the NHS Pharmacy First service, supporting prescribing safety, clinical decision-making and community pharmacy’s role in the urgent care agenda.
The SCR is accessed through NHS Digital’s National Care Records Service (NCRS). The NCRS provides a quick, secure way for health and care workers to access national patient information to improve clinical decision making and healthcare outcomes. For more information, visit the NCRS webpage.
We have developed an e-learning programme to support you to use SCRs when consulting with patients. This programme provides you with information about accessing the records, patient confidentiality, record-keeping and the essential information governance principles that underpin the process.
The NHS Digital Summary Care Record in community pharmacy web page provides information on the benefits of SCR and how to use them. NHS England recommends that all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians complete the CPPE Summary Care Records in community pharmacy e-learning programme and the associated e-assessment. Ticking the box in the Summary Care Records assessment registration process in the My CPPE section of your CPPE account will allow your Registration Authority and the SCR project team (on behalf of NHS Digital) to see that you have passed this assessment.
You can find further information and resources on our Summary Care Records learning gateway and the Community Pharmacy England website.
