NHS Tameside and Glossop have pioneered the work in promoting patients accessibility to their medical records. A public meeting held on Tuesday 27 October let people know more about this important subject.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Richard Fitton, who, together with colleagues Dr Amir Hannan and Dr Brian Fisher, and the patients at his surgery, has received both national and international recognition in recent years as a leading advocate of greater control for patients over their medical notes and histories.
Dr Richard Fitton is a general practitioner working for NHS Tameside and Glossop as salaried assistant and Caldicott Guardian (information guardian). In 2004, Dr Fitton worked with Dr Hannan on a project to allow patients at their respective practices (Hadfield Medical Centre in Glossop and Thornley Medical Centre in Hyde) to view their own patient records on their home computers via a special password-protected system.
This was the first time such a system had been used in the UK, and was regarded as a great step toward patients taking ownership of their records, and by extension, their own health.
Greater access to patient records means putting patients at the very heart of everything that we do, it means they are truly involved in the patient journey. It can also help to eliminate any potential for GP abuse. Patients from the surgeries have spoken of their experiences at health conferences up and down the country.
Dr Fisher and Dr Fitton are currently working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to consider making record access by patient’s part of the WHO e-health strategy. Dr Fitton has been supported by Tom Levitt MP for many years and has accepted an invitation to attend an All Party Parliamentary meeting on Telemedicine at the House of Commons on October 28th. He also addressed a World Health Conference in Nairobi on the subject on October 21st.
Both public and staff were present at the meeting, which aimed to engage with local people in engaging with their own health.
Dr Richard Fitton says “A patient who has greater access to their records is a patient who is better in touch with their health, and better equipped to maintain and improve their own well-being.”