A Shared Health Summary is a clinical document in My Health Record that provides an overview of specific health information about the consumer at a particular point in time. It includes information on the consumer’s:
- current medicines
- past medical history
- allergies and adverse reactions
- immunisations/vaccinations.
Who can create a Shared Health Summary?
Under the My Health Records Act 2012 (Cwlth), a Shared Health Summary should be created and uploaded by a consumer’s nominated healthcare provider. Typically, this person is the consumer’s GP or another healthcare provider who provides them with regular care.
The nominated healthcare provider must be:
- a medical practitioner
- a registered nurse, or
- an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health practitioner who has a Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (Practice).
A consumer’s nominated healthcare provider is decided on by mutual agreement between the consumer and the healthcare provider. Only one person can serve as the nominated healthcare provider at any given time.
It is important to note that there are no technical constraints built into My Health Record to restrict any authorised healthcare provider from creating and uploading a Shared Health Summary.
When can a Shared Health Summary be created?
A Shared Health Summary can be created during any consultation. The nominated healthcare provider may feel it is useful to create and upload a new Shared Health Summary:
- when completing a patient health assessment (i.e., a GP management plan or health check)
- when there have been significant changes to a patient’s medical conditions, medicines, allergies, adverse reactions or immunisations.
How is a Shared Health Summary created?
The information within a Shared Health Summary is similar to the information found within a GP health summary. The time it will take to create a Shared Health Summary will depend, in part, upon the quality and currency of the information already available in the consumer's local record. It will also depend on the complexity of the consumer's health conditions and management.
If the nominated healthcare provider believes omitting certain information from the document on the request of a consumer might mislead other healthcare providers, they may decline to upload the Shared Health Summary to the consumer’s My Health Record.
Once a Shared Health Summary has been created, the consumer’s nominated healthcare provider can upload the summary to My Health Record from their clinical information system.
While it is best practice to do so, there is no legal requirement for a healthcare provider to give a patient the opportunity to review their Shared Health Summary prior to uploading it to My Health Record.
How is the information in a Shared Health Summary updated?
Documents in a consumer’s My Health Record cannot be edited. The only way to update a Shared Health Summary is by creating and uploading a new Shared Health Summary.