Written question asked by Stephen O'Brien (Conservative) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 April 2010. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 April 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Medical Records: Databases

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on commissioning reports on the Summary Care Record of University College London; how many such reports his Department has commissioned to date; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent report.

Answer: The Department initially commissioned an independent evaluation of the summary care record early adopter programme. This work, carried out by a team at University College London (UCL), ran between May 2007 and April 2008. It resulted in two published reports, the Summary Care Record Independent Evaluation, and Evaluation of Data Quality Standards within the Summary Care Record. Both reports have been published and are available at:"www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/openlearning/research"Further research has been commissioned from UCL, to assess the implementation and impact of the summary care record and HealthSpace, and to illuminate ongoing learning and lessons as summary care records begin to be implemented more widely. The outcome of this work is currently undergoing quality assurance and peer review and is due for publication later this year.The cost of the commissioned work is £272,200 for the first study and £723,400 for the current study, a total of £995,600.

Secondary information