Government wants you to access medical records on your phone

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants people to be able to view their full medical records on their smartphones within two years. His target is that one in four smartphone users will be able to access the NHS in some form by April 2017.

Hunt also said patients should be able to send information to GPS using their activity-monitoring devices such as the Fitbit ( www.fitbit. com/uk), a wristband that counts how many steps the wearer takes.

The minister said all NHS patients would be able to view their entire medical records online by 2018. GP records, including appointments and blood tests, will be available from next year.

He said that empowering patients in this way would encourage them to take responsibility for their health and lifestyles.

He told the NHS England’s annual conference: “The evidence from all over the world is that when patients start to access their medical records, they start to think about their health care in a different way”.

But doctors’ groups have concerns about confidentiality and patient safety. The British Medical Association (BMA) fears vulnerable patients with abusive partners could be coerced into revealing their medical secrets.

Other doctors expressed concern that the notes they make in patients’ files might now be revealed. For example, a doctor might have recorded that a smoker was at risk of cancer but had chosen not to tell the patient.

There are also worries that private companies might try to get hold of the data in medical records in order to sell drugs to patients, or otherwise exploit them.

As for Hunt’s Fitbit plan, the Royal College of GPS warned that doctors are already overburdened with work and would not have time to analyse extra data sent to them by patients wearing the device.