SCOTTISH PRIMARY CARE INFORMATION RESOURCE (SPIRE)

General Practice Records are designed to help GP teams provide patients with the care they need.  They also provide a comprehensive lifelong record of a patients health and treatment.  As such these records are an extremely valuable source of information which provides the potential for NHS Scotland (NHSS) to learn more about the health needs of the population and how best to address those needs. 

NHSS want to improve the way they use this information and this improved service is called SPIRE.  It has been developed to help GP's, NHSS and researchers plan for Scotland's health and care needs.  This ill be introduced in phases across Scotland from January 2017. 

The benefits of the improved service are:-

• Improving the quality of care for all patients
• Planning services and care for people who have a condition or a health need
• Responding to major public health issues like 'flu epidemics
• Improving the provision of health and care to vulnerable or disadvantaged groups
• Developing knowledge about the uptake of vital medicines and vaccines
• Supporting research into new treatments for particular illnesses

If you are happy for NHSS to use information for your GP records then you don't need to do anything.  It will happen automatically.  To protect your confidentiality, your details will be encrypted before they are sent.  So you can be confident that your information is secure at all times.

If you have any questions about SPIRE or want to know more about how we manage confidential information, visit www.spire.scot.  Alternatively call NHS Inform on 0800 224488

If you do NOT want information from your GP patient records to be used in this way, ask for an opt-out form at your GP practice.