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Community pharmacists across England will be given the opportunity to access the Summary Care Record (SCR) from the autumn, in plans announced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre today (June 23).

Community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be provided with secure approved and monitored access to the SCR which will allow them to support patients with better informed and tailored care. More than 96 per cent of the population have an SCR and it is already being successfully used in many settings across the NHS, such as A&E departments, hospital pharmacies, NHS 111 and GP out of hours services and walk in centres.

Following a successful proof of concept across 140 sites, NHS England has commissioned HSCIC to support all community pharmacies in England to implement access to the SCR. This pilot study found that SCR access in community pharmacies delivered benefits to patients, pharmacy and general practice, including:

• In 92 per cent of encounters where SCR was accessed, the pharmacist avoided the need to signpost the patient to other NHS care settings
• 85 per cent of pharmacists surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that SCR reduced the need for them to contact the patient's GP
• In 18 per cent of encounters, the risk of a prescribing error was avoided.

HSCIC will work in partnership with NHS England and closely with other organisations including PSNC, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Pharmacy Voice, the NPA and General Pharmaceutical Council throughout the planning and delivery phases. Implementation is expected to begin in autumn 2015.

Minister of State for Community and Social Care, Alistair Burt MP said: €Pharmacists are an untapped resource in our health service €“ as experts in medicines, they can help people to manage their conditions and take some of the pressure off our GPs. That's why it makes complete sense to give them the ability to access patients' summary care records, where appropriate.

€So we're investing up to £7.5 million to give community pharmacists the training and tools they need to access a patient's summary care record. A pilot has already shown that as a result of this, as many as nine out of ten people can get the help they need from their pharmacist without having to be sent to another service. I encourage all community pharmacists to get involved and further improve the care we can give people in their communities.€

A report of the findings from the pilot has been published today.