Survey finds 80% of customers would allow pharmacists to access their GP record

Customers using a pharmacy vaccination service are happy for the pharmacist to be allowed access to their GP records, suggests a survey of over 7,000 patients. In the image, a senior woman is vaccinated by a pharmacist

Customers using a pharmacy vaccination service are happy for the pharmacist to be allowed access to their GP records, suggests a survey of over 7,000 patients.

The finding comes from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Nottingham and presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference in Birmingham on 13 September 2015[1]
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Hamza Mahmood, a preregistration pharmacist who was an undergraduate at Nottingham when the research was conducted, told delegates that 80% of the 7,154 patients questioned (n=5,362) were happy for the pharmacist to see their GP record. “This was a key result,” he said.

An even higher proportion (98%) said they would be happy for the pharmacist to tell their GP that a vaccination had been given.

“The drive for wider role out of pharmacist access to GP records should continue, especially in the context of providing vaccination services,” Mahmood said.

Reasons given by patients for not allowing access included concerns about privacy, concerns over who might have access to the information and not considering access necessary. Patients who said they would grant access cited improved safety, trust in the pharmacist and a need for communication as the main reasons for their decision.

Patients who said they would allow access were more likely to report using the same pharmacy — 83% compared with 79% of those who wouldn’t allow access (P<0.001). A similar result was seen for patients who said they used the pharmacy because they trusted the pharmacist to provide good advice (74% of the patients who would allow access vs 68% of the patients who would not allow access; P<0.001).

References

[1] Mahmood H, Tse S, Chung Li W, et al. Community pharmacy vaccination services: customers’ perceptions of pharmacist access to GP records. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2015;23 (Suppl 2):9. Abstract presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society annual conference on 13 September 2015.

Last updated
Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, 19 September 2015, Vol 295, No 7880;295(7880):DOI:10.1211/PJ.2015.20069347

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