Cost of access to old records agreed

Tags: CfH Choice GP GPSoC TPP

19 May 2009

NHS Connecting for Health has set out the options GP practices have to access their old records if they switch to a different IT system.

The GP Systems of Choice team has agreed details of how each IT supplier will provide practices with access to their audit trail and the costs of doing so.

CfH says practices may need access to their audit trail in the event of a medico-legal challenge.

The three options offered to practices range from the most expensive one of retaining their existing GPSoC system with full support to retaining their system with reduced support or requesting ad hoc access to clinical data and the audit trail.

CfH says it plans to audit suppliers’ ability to provide data and audit trail retrieval services, but so far no suppliers have had their services independently validated.

EMIS and TPP will make no charge for up to two accesses per year with other suppliers making a one off charge of up to £1,536 (Microtest).

SystmOne users will be able to keep their existing systems for three months while most of the others will offer a perpetual annual licence or access as long as the media is readable.

The GPSoC team has also published de tails of the services each GPSoC supplier will supply in the event of a data migration. CfH says a data extract from the practice’s existing system will need to be carried out which can either be a back-up tape or a documented data extract from the system.

It says a documented data extract means the practice’s new supplier has information about how the data extracted from the practice’s existing system is structured, making them easier to translate the data into the practice’s new system correctly.

Fiona Barr

Reader's Comments

but not the practices paying?

cunpr@globalnet.co.uk

19 May 09 08:05

Well this is welcome news and another peice of the jigsaw of GPIT slotted into place. Sorry but who actually pays these agreed fees? Not the practice obviously as thats ruled out under the nGMS contract........ Regards Paul Cundy

Why shouldn't GPs pay

19 May 09 23:05

It seems GPs get everything paid for, and were even asking for free facemasks during the Pandemic Flu preparations. If they are independent self regulating practitioners, shouldn't they dip their hands in their own pockets occasionally ?

Perhaps once MPs get themselves in order, and properly regulated, they could look to the many benefits and very limited risks that general practice enjoys. Always part of the NHS when there are any bills to be paid, and independent practitioners needing financial incentives to do any work, or frustrating joining up clinical practice with 'GP Choice' potentially at odds with patient interest.

As a patient and longstanding NHS employee, I'm not sure they're working for me.

Ill informed

daryl.mullen@nhs.net

20 May 09 09:05

To the previous commentor. The reason GPs should not pay is that our contract with the government states that they cover the costs of IT. In many cases GP have had little choice in swapping systems. We should not be saddled with legacy costs. As to flu masks, many practices have tried to buy them but most suppliers are out of stock, also more importantly GPs have been told that these supplies would be supplied free of charge. Yes we are part independant but when seeing patients and swabbing them at the request of the HPA, at risk to ourselves and our families a bit of support rather than ill judged, ill informed comment would be nice!

Only 3 months for SystmOne?

maryhawking@tigers.demon.co.uk

24 May 09 10:05

"SystmOne users will be able to keep their existing systems for three months while most of the others will offer a perpetual annual licence or access as long as the media is readable."

I'm not sure I understand this. SystmOne is a SSEPR - and as such, only the currently registered patients' records will be transferred during data migration.

Does this sentence mean that after 3 months - a very short time - practices migrating to SystmOne will be unable to access their old records - including the medicolegally important previous patients - or that practices migrating to other systems from SystmOne will only be able to access the records created in SystmOne for three months?

Either way, as audit trails are not transfered in any data migration process, and data is always lost during migration, it does sound a bit risky for the practice!

Beware tapes

roseneath@ntlworld.com

26 May 09 19:05

A tape backup will be fine until the machine required to read it no longer exists. Tape formats change quickly. If you do need a backup system, make sure your supplier stores it on a system that will not become outdated. I have seen a supplier have difficulties recovering data from a current backup system purely because the practice used an old tape drive system that had died and was obsolete.