Oliver Colvile – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2014, Official Report, column 710W, on pharmacy, what progress his Department has made on the introduction of data-sharing between GPs and pharmacists.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Proof of Concept (POC) project is making good progress. The project has completed the implementation stage of providing Summary Care Record (SCR) access for community pharmacies.

By the end of 2014, 135 pharmacies across all five areas (West Yorkshire, Sheffield, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Somerset), have been enabled to have access to the SCR. The pharmacies involved include independent pharmacies, national multiple providers, and representatives from the major supermarkets. Over 1,300 patient SCRs have been accessed to date to support direct patient care.

The POC project team are now working on the findings and associated recommendations. Initial analysis is promising and the final report is due in the coming months.