Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/spotlight-patient-safety-and-ncds-55-sh...
Many thanks for your latest message Richard.
Since you joined HIFA several years ago we have all reccognised the importance of patient access to the medical record as part of the information that every person and every health worker needs to protect their own health and the health of others.
I have just re-read your 2024 blog: 'Safety and outcomes improve when patients access their own health records. This is why it matters.'
https://joinedupcarederbyshire.co.uk/news/blog-safety-and-outcomes-impro...
Below are extracts. These are compelling reasons why universal access to patient health records would improve care and patient safety.
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"I became interested in sharing records with patients during the 1980s while working in an inner-city practice – an area of moderate deprivation...
I was already sharing records with patients when I was asked to give evidence at the trial of Dr Harold Shipman.
Dr Shipman had murdered over two hundred patients.
He altered the notes of the patient that I signed the cremation form of to hide his crime.
I felt that patients’ relatives would have spotted the falsification of the records if access to records was standard...
So how does patient access to records help the NHS and social care?
Patients detect and report notes of other patients that have been incorrectly put in their notes.
Patients detect and report errors and omissions.
Patients report inappropriate access to their records by examining the audit trail of users.
Patients report clinical content that they do not wish to be shared further.
And how does patient access to records help patients and carers?
Patients are better able to give fully informed consent for treatments.
Patients have more complete and satisfying consultations with healthcare professionals.
Patients use the record to represent themselves when complex issues which they do not understand are discussed with other professionals.
Patients share the records with carers and families. Parents access their children’s records until 16 years of age. (Children can ask this to finish after the age of 13.)
Patients look up their results, diagnoses and care pathways become better at managing their treatments and long-term conditions.
In short, access to patient records puts patient in charge of their own health."
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It seems likely that Harold Shipman would not have been able to murder so many of his patients if they (or their representatives) had ongoing access to their medical records. Less dramatically, the list of benefits such as identification and correction of errors would improve patient safety and quality of care generally.
I reviewed the Global Patient Safety Action Plan and it makes several references to patient access to medical records, but without explaining the rationale for this. Your list of 10 'Hows' above fills that gap.
I look forward to learning more about this topic.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org