Letter to the profession about the NHS Care Records Service (England)
November 2006
Dear Colleague
The NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS) will bring significant changes to the way patient healthcare information is recorded and accessed in the NHS. It is important that you are fully aware of these changes so that you can not only prepare yourself for the new system but also respond to any questions that your patients may have.
Enclosed is a guidance document ‘Connecting for Health – the NHS Care Records Service in England’. This guidance has been produced by the British Medical Association (BMA) and provides further information about the NHS CRS. It includes details of how these changes will affect you and your patients, together with the BMA’s views on these developments. We urge you to read the guidance so that you are properly informed of these changes.
The BMA will be producing further guidance documents on Connecting for Health developments and these will be available on the BMA website at: www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/HubTLinformationtechnology.
If you wish to contact the BMA about any issues relating to NHS IT, please email info.nhs-it@bma.org.uk
Also enclosed is a leaflet from Connecting for Health, which provides information about who you can contact if you wish to be involved locally.
Yours sincerely
Mr James Johnson
Chairman of BMA Council
Chairman of BMA’s Working Party on NHS IT