About a Patient’s Summary Care Record

A Patient’s Summary Care Record contains important information about any medicines they are taking, any allergies they suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines that they have previously experienced.

Allowing authorised healthcare staff to have access to this information will improve decision making by doctors and other healthcare professionals and has prevented mistakes being made when patients are being cared for in an emergency or when their GP practice is closed.

A Summary Care Record also includes the Patient’s name, address, date of birth and their unique NHS Number to help identify them correctly.

The Patient may want to add other details about their care to the Summary Care Record. This will only happen if both the Patient and their GP agree to do this. The Patient should discuss their wishes with the GP practice.

Healthcare staff will have access to this information, so that they can provide safer care, whenever or wherever the Patient needs it, within England.

FAQs

Who can access a Patient’s Summary Care Record?

Healthcare staff who have access to the Patient’s Summary Care Record:

·  Need to be directly involved in caring for the Patient

·  Need to have an NHS Smartcard with a chip and passcode

·  Will only see the information they need to do their job and

·  Will have their details recorded every time they look at the Patient’s record.  Healthcare staff will ask for the Patient’s consent prior to accessing a Patient’s Summary Care Record. If they cannot gain consent (for example if the Patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate), Healthcare staff may access the record without consent as it is considered in the Patient’s best interest.
If this action is taken this decision will be recorded and may be checked to ensure that the access was appropriate.

Patient choice

The Partient can choose to have a Summary Care Record or opt out.

If the Patient chooses to have a Summary Care Record and are registered with a GP practice, they do not need to do anything as a Summary Care Record is created for them.

If they choose to opt out of having a Summary Care Record and do not want a SCR, the Patient need to let their GP practice know.  This is done by filling in and returning an opt-out form (PDF, 245.9kB). Opt-out forms can be downloaded from the website.

If the Patient is unsure if they have already opted out, they can enquire from their Practice. A Patient can change their mind at any time by simply informing the Practice and either filling in an opt-out form (PDF, 245.9kB) or asking the Practice to create a Summary Care Record for them.

Children and the Summary Care Record

The parent or guardian of a child under 16, should make this information available to them and support the child to come to a decision as to whether to have a Summary Care Record or not.

If they believe that the child should opt-out of having a Summary Care Record, we strongly recommend that the Parent or Guardian discuss this with the child’s GP. This will allow the child’s GP to highlight the consequences of opting-out, prior to them finalising theirr decision.

Accessing further information?

For more information about Summary Care Records Patients can:

·  Contact the Practice

·  Telephone the Health and Social Care Information Centre on 0300 303 5678

·  Read the Summary Care Record patient leaflet (PDF, 888.2kB)

Version: 1.1

Date Reviewed:  April 2025

Implementation responsibility: Surjit Kaur and Dr Nishat Ahmad

References

GP mythbuster 22: Summary Care Records (SCRs) - Care Quality Commission

Summary Care Record - NHS England Digital

Summary Care Record (SCR) - Community Pharmacy England