ASSIST attacks GP boycott of electronic records

Andrew Haw said: “It is a shame that, instead of putting barriers in the way of progress, the GPs could not come forward with positive suggestions to overcome perceived difficulties." 

The vote on non-co-operation was taken at the British Medical Association’s local medical committees conference earlier this month. Strong claims were made at the conference that GPs had not been properly consulted about electronic health records and that there was excessive secrecy about the timetabling of NHS Care Records Service’s (CRS) introduction.

Motions passed included a vow “not to engage with the Care Records System” until the “legitimate concerns of GPs” were answered, an expression of “grave concern regarding the threat to confidentiality and civil liberties from the care records service". A no-confidence motion in the ability of NPfIT to implement the system was also passed.

Haw, however, stressed that change should be driven by the needs of patients, rather than GPs: “There is much evidence that patients expect different parts of the NHS to share administrative and clinical information about them. Indeed patients often express irritation about being repeatedly asked the same questions and having to see clinicians when not all of the relevant data is available to them."

He also said that GPs concerns about patient confidentiality had already been addressed: “While everyone should be concerned about patient confidentiality, the plans for allowing a patient ‘opt out’ have long been known about and the medical representatives on the Clinical Advisory Board did not, we believe, object to these arrangements."

Responding to Haw’s comments, a spokesperson for the BMA told E-Health Insider that doctors couldn’t have come forward with any positive suggestions simply because they hadn’t been involved.

“We think these accusations are quite serious. Doctors have not been asked for their views; we have not been adequately engaged with the project. In a recent survey, 93 percent of doctors said they had no adequate information about electronic care records."

“We are concerned about confidentiality issues and our patients are at the heart of our arguments. But we would very much like to engage with the argument."

ASSIST exists to “bring a sense of identity, standards and common" to people working in health and social care informatics, and to provide a network and support to ICT professionals.