Conference 2027 › Forums › Pharmacy in Practice Member Forum › Pharmacist read write access to patient records › Reply To: Pharmacist read write access to patient records
Update.
Sandesh Gulhane asked a number of parliamentary questions, which received answers.
To ask the Scottish Government what its policy goals are for pharmacists working in the community in relation to being able to access full clinical records for patients in their care to ensure safe prescribing, and when it expects these goals to be met.
Answer: The Scottish Government is committed to collaborate with key partners across the NHS in Scotland to ensure that relevant information, with the appropriate safeguards in place, is available to all healthcare professionals, including community pharmacists, when and where they need it.
As community pharmacists expand their clinical role, there is an increasing need for them to have read/write access to clinical records to ensure that they can safely assess and agree a clinical management plan for a person and any associated actions or treatments can be viewed by other healthcare professionals involved in a person’s care, without any unnecessary delay.
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has commissioned work to explore how read/write access to clinical records can be delivered incrementally.
To ask the Scottish Government what the current arrangements are to allow pharmacists working in the community to access their patients’ clinical records; which records they can see, and whether they can amend records to include consultations and items prescribed by the pharmacist.
Answer: Community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians gained access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) on 2 October 2023. The ECS provides information on recent acute and repeat prescriptions and allergies. They also have access to the Key Information Summary (KIS) where available, which provides information about a person’s health issues, a carer’s name and contact details, preferences on how a person would like to be cared for, the treatment they would like and where they would like to be cared for.
In addition, several health boards are providing community pharmacists access to their clinical portal which provides additional clinical information. Clinical portals support Health Boards to allow healthcare professionals to access information about an individual, including in some cases those from other Health Boards when required, with their permission.
Community pharmacists can create, read and edit Pharmacy Care Records (PCRs) to record details of consultations they have undertaken (for example Pharmacy First consultations) as well as details of any items that have been prescribed and/or dispensed in their community pharmacy. The PCR also allows them to create a structured report which can be sent to any other healthcare organisation.
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason pharmacists working in communities reportedly do not have full access to clinical records for people in their care.
Answer: Community pharmacists currently have access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) which provides information on recent acute and repeat prescriptions and allergies and the Key Information Summary (KIS) where available, which provides information about a person’s health issues, a carer’s name and contact details, preferences on how a person would like to be cared for, the treatment they would like and where they would like to be cared for. In addition, several health boards are providing community pharmacists access to their clinical portal which provides additional clinical information.
There are several barriers that currently make full access to clinical records difficult including the interoperability of the different IT systems used across the NHS and providing assurances on data protection and information governance requirements.
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to review the current reported restrictions on pharmacists working in the community having access to full clinical records for patients in their care to ensure safe prescribing.
Answer: The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has commissioned work to explore how the required level of access to clinical records by community pharmacists can be delivered.