Do we need a national electronic summary care record?

• Electronic referrals and discharge summaries can improve the quality and timeliness of clinical communication. • The electronic summary care record (SCR) extends the concept of digital health summaries to create a perpetually updated and centrally stored summary of care, extracting key data from local systems after each encounter. • The only major SCR evaluation to date, in England, found that rates of usage were low, and any impact on care was difficult to quantify. • The SCR is seen by some as a first step to building a national distributed shared electronic health record (SEHR). However, the SCR may be a problematic diversion, creating a need for centralised databases, while the SEHR can function by sharing locally stored records, letters and discharge summaries. • Uncertainty about the quality and provenance of SCR data raises concerns about patient safety, as key data may be absent and old data may persist, partly because of a lack of ownership of the summary. • A national e-health strategy should emphasise the true stepping stones to a distributed and shared electronic record, including encouraging the uptake and meaningful use of electronic clinical records, clinical messaging, electronic discharge summaries and letters, and services such as decision support and e-prescribing, all of which have good evidence to support them.