The British Medical Association is calling on the Department of Health to suspend the roll-out of summary care records.

The BMA said the project was being accelerated and it had serious concerns that patients are not getting the information they needed to decide whether or not they want their medical records put onto a centralised system. The doctors group wants opt-out forms to be included in the information packs which are currently being sent out to patients.

The group is writing to health minister Mike O’Brien to ask him to stop the letters going out until they have an opt-out form included.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the council at the BMA, said:

The break-neck speed with which this programme is being implemented is of huge concern. Patients’ right to opt out is crucial, and it is extremely alarming that records are apparently being created without them being aware of it. If the process continues to be rushed, not only will the rights of patients be damaged, but the limited confidence of the public and the medical profession in NHS IT will be further eroded.

The BMA is advising doctors to make sure they have opt-out forms available in surgeries and that they have a crucial role in advising patients about their rights.

The Department of Health has yet to respond to this letter but last time it was asked about this issue it said there had been very few complaints about the project, even though about six million letters had been sent out. Opt-out requests so far have been less than one per cent of that total and over a million patients have already had their records uploaded

Acid free and germ free qualities in the same folder. How can that be? Smead, the more than 100 year old maker of file folders and filing accessories has done it again, leading the way as they have for all of those years.

Manila now and pressboard soon stock in the range of colors is treated with an inorganic silver zeolite compound that stops the growth of bacteria, molds and mildew. The acid free SilverCo treatment is EPA registered and FDA approved. Ideal where control of microorganisms to protect valuable contents is important.

Smead does not make any claims about health advantages but it makes sense to us that medical chart folders that are used around patients will reduce at least one channel that could contribute to the spread of infection.

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Labels printed from data bases, spread sheets, character delimited files. Labels shipped separately or factory applied to customer choice of  folders. Ask about special services, for example heavy weight folders for certain groups of files.

Study describes how changing from paper to electronic  medical records has  impacts on patient care that is much more than merely the move from pen on paper to fingers on keyboards.

From The Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association:

“Impact of a Computer-based Patient Record System on Data Collection, Knowledge Organization, and Reasoning”

Conclusion Technology has a profound influence in shaping cognitive behavior, and the potential effects of cognition on technology design needs to be explored.

http://jamia.bmj.com/content/7/6/569.abstract