Summary care record

About your summary care record

Your summary care record contains important information about any medicines you are taking, any allergies you suffer from and any adverse reactions to medicines that you have previously experienced.

Allowing authorised healthcare staff across the NHS access to this information improves decision making by doctors and other healthcare professionals and has prevented mistakes being made when patients are being cared for in an emergency.

Your summary care record also includes your name, address, date of birth and your unique NHS Number to help identify you correctly.

You may want to add other details about your care to your summary care record. This will only happen if both you and your GP agree to do this. You should discuss your wishes with your GP.

NHS staff will only have access to this information so that they can provide safer care, whenever or wherever you need it, anywhere in England.

FAQs

Who can see my summary care record?

NHS staff who have access to your summary care record:

  • Need to be directly involved in caring for you
  • Need to have an NHS Smartcard – Only authorised staff are issued Smartcards
  • Will only see the information they need to fulfil their role and
  • Will have their details recorded every time they look at your record

NHS staff will ask for your permission every time they need to look at your summary care record. If they cannot obtain your consent (for example if you are unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate), NHS staff may look at your record if they consider it to be in your best interests.

If they have to do this, the action will be recorded and checked to ensure that the decision taken to access your record was appropriate.

What are my choices?

You can choose to have a summary care record, or you can choose to opt-out.

If you choose to have a summary care record and are registered with a GP practice, you do not need to do anything as a summary care record will automatically be created for you.

If you choose to opt-out of having a summary care record, you need to let your GP practice know by filling in the online form. Opt-out forms can be downloaded from our website or obtained from the surgery.

You can change your mind by informing the surgery and either filling in an online form or asking the surgery to create a Summary Care Record for you.

Children and the summary care record

If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16, you 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 you believe that your child should opt-out of having a summary care record, we strongly recommend that you discuss this with your child’s GP. This will allow your child’s GP to highlight the consequences of opting-out, prior to you finalising your decision.

Where can I get more information?

For more information about the summary care record you can