User research remit and approach

NHS Digital carried out the research, which focused on access to Additional Information in the Summary Care Record.

The research aim was to support NHSx with understanding the utility of SCR with additional information, by conducting user research with health and care professionals, the research activities included:

• gathering user research from different care settings
• collecting and analysing qualitative research through health and care professional interviews
• collecting and analysing quantitative survey data from SCR users

We carried out qualitative interviews across care settings and roles with 18 SCR users in England during June 2020. This was a time-limited piece of work due to project constraints and, the availability of users during a critically busy time in the Coronavirus pandemic. Health and care settings included:

• primary care – such as GP’s
• urgent and emergency care – including 111 and ambulance services
• care homes
• prisons

The survey on the usefulness of SCR ran between 22 May and 16 June 2020. There were 209 unique, complete responses from users. 184 of the respondents were frontline clinicians.