Summary Care Record
What is the Summary Care Record?
The NHS in England is using an electronic record called the Summary Care Record to support patient care.
All the settings where you receive healthcare keep their own medical records about you. These places can often only share information from your records by letter, phone or secure email. At times, this can delay information sharing and this can affect decision making and slow down treatment.
Our Somerset Integrated Digital e-Record (SIDeR) programme, see link at bottom of the page for more information, shares information across NHS and social care organisations in Somerset, however, if you need medical assistance outside of Somerset this will not be available.
What’s in the Summary Care Record?
Your Summary Care Record contains important information about any medicines you are taking, any allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines that you have previously experienced.
Your Summary Care Record also includes your name, address, date of birth and your unique NHS Number to help identify you correctly.
You may want to add other details about your care to your Summary Care Record. This will only happen if both you and your GP agree to do this. You should discuss your wishes with your GP practice.
Who can see it?
We are working with healthcare professionals to give them access to this information so that they can provide safer care, whenever or wherever you need it, anywhere in England.
Having access to this information will improve decision making by doctors and other healthcare professionals. It will prevent mistakes from being made when patients are being cared for in different care settings.