The Summary Care Record is meant to help emergency services help you when you contact them when the Surgery is closed. Nationally all patients automatically have a SCR unless they have specifically opted out. The basic Summary Care Record shows a list of your allergies and medication issues.
The enriched/enhanced Summary Care Record (eSCR) provides a lot more information in a read-only format, very similar to the information the GPs can see about you in the surgery. Details of your significant past medical history including dates may be useful to your care either at A&E or even another GP surgery when you are a temporary resident. The eSCR operates on an opt-in basis. Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held on central NHS databases.
As with all new systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.
If you are interested in activating your eSCR to support your healthcare please see the What is a Summary care record? (PDF) leaflet and speak to a member of the reception team.
