The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7425 p535
4 November 2006

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Health minister open to care record access

Health minister Andy Burnham has agreed to raise the issue of pharmacists’ access to the NHS Care Record database with Lord Warner, the minister responsible for IT. The assurance came during a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Patient Safety held in London last week.

Graham Phillips, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council, put it to Mr Burnham that nearly half of all serious medication errors result from clinicians having insufficient information about the patient and the drug. He also pointed out that he was now dispensing medicines for patients who were older, more frail and more likely to be receiving several medicines for multiple conditions. “It is important that I have access to information about a patient’s kidney and liver function but this information is denied to me at the moment.”

Mr Burnham appeared surprised that this was the case and promised to address the matter in his discussions with Lord Warner.