Rob Hendry: Vision of new online partnership between doctor and patient

YOU have been on regular medication to control your blood pressure, but it's difficult to find time to go to the surgery for regular checks. You have a quiet moment on a Sunday evening, so why not check it then?

So you unpack the blood pressure machine you got from the local pharmacy, wrap the cuff around your arm and press the button. After some whirring and the cuff tightening and releasing on your arm, the screen says your blood pressure is 135/90.

You may not remember what your blood pressure was a week ago, let alone know what systolic and diastolic pressures mean, so you write it down so you can tell your GP next time you visit. You know checking your blood pressure is important, but until you are at the surgery it can all be a bit meaningless.

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Of course, many people know a lot about their health, or at least have lots of information about their possible illnesses, thanks to the internet. The rising role of online self-diagnosis has introduced a new dynamic in the doctor-patient relationship in recent years. It can be good and bad. It is certainly here to stay.

It's in recognition of the desire among people, as evidenced by the fact that they actively search out information like this, to be partners in their own healthcare that we are so pleased to see the launch of two pilot "Patient Portals" in Ayrshire and Arran.

These portals allow people served by two practices to log on from their home computers to have a look at their records, book appointments online, access test results and track things like their blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

And it is this ability to record and track that has the potential to take the partnership between doctor and patient to a new level. In the same way as you might log in to monitor the performance of your savings or shares, plotting changes in your health information allows you to see not just where you have been, but also where you are going.

Tracking changes in things you can test at home, like blood pressure, weight and blood sugar, can set off important alarm bells.

It can also show you that the things you are doing to improve your health are working.

Despite the chequered past of big national IT projects, the holy grail for helping patients to be real partners with their doctors in their healthcare is a single national portal for every patient to log in to the NHS in Scotland.

The vision that many share is of a site that not only allows you access to information and trends about you, but also accompanies that with reliable and clear information about illnesses, procedures and how to keep well.

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Given that the Scottish Government has already found support among the public over its emergency care summary records (ECS), we believe the response to the electronic records system will be the same.

Our experience is that doctors, far from being jealous guardians of professional and clinical information, generally accept that information about a patient belongs to that patient and, with support, patients can make good use of it. After all, as a profession, we gather lots of data which, while we don't want to keep it secret, we rarely actively present back to patients in a way that helps and encourages them.

Of course, the move towards a central electronic records and patient information system, national or local, is not without its challenges – foremost being security. For the system to succeed, it is vital for the public to have confidence that it safeguards properly the confidentiality and security of their records.

• Dr Rob Hendry is head of medical services in Scotland for the Medical Protection Society.