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The Joint GP IT Committee (JGPITC) has warned the Government and NHS England not to force practices to turn on GP Connect Update Record by October 1 as part of their contractual obligations over concerns incorrect information is being sent to them by pharmacies.

In a letter this week, officials from the IT committees of the British Medical Association and Royal College of General Practitioners said pharmacies were reviewing nearly 15,000 records that could have been incorrectly coded and warned "some of those incorrect codes are now part of the GP record".

The GP Connect Update Record is designed to allow pharmacies to send consultation summaries to GPs on Pharmacy First as well as the blood pressure check and pharmacy contraception services.

In July, reports emerged that pregnant patients at pharmacies were incorrectly coded, resulting in them receiving medicines they should not have been given, while other patients were incorrectly coded as pregnant.

In their letter, the JGPITC said it “does not yet feel GP Connect Update Record as implemented with the Pharmacy First information model can command the confidence of the profession” and urged NHS England to postpone the October 1 date for going live.  

“Our advice would be that this date be put on hold until the concerns have been resolved,” the JGPITC said. “With any new system there will be teething troubles (technical or governance) and GP Connect Update Record is no exception.”

It added: “Pharmacy First is the first of many services to use this new technology, so it is essential that (general practice) has confidence in the product before mass rollout.”

JGPITC insisted it was “committed to working with NHS England to put in place the final requirements so that we can assure the profession that it is fit for purpose”.

JGPITC outlined three measures it said were “minimum necessary steps” that would help convince it that “Pharmacy First use of GP Connect Update Record is ready for general acceptance”.

This included NHSE acknowledging it is accountable for “the information model”, that there is a “clear, written editorial policy” for the model setting out “a clear strategic case for sending data in coded form” and the involvement of JGPITC in investigating the problems with pregnancy coding “or a detailed report setting out why it went wrong and what the lessons learned are”.

The JGPITC wrote: “The ensuing digital record needs to be clear on its provenance, be easily readable and coded data needs to be identifiable as coming from an external source. The obligations of GPs as the data controllers of the patient record need to be respected.”