Medical records to start in 2010
First trials begin in weeks with the online, voluntary dossier médical personnel (DMP)
PERSONAL health records will be introduced to France through an online database which will be rolled out in 2010.
The latest plan to introduce medical records into the French health service, which follows several failed attempts since 2004, was announced by Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot.
Ms Bachelot said the records would not be accessible to all health professionals but could be used to make the treatment of certain illnesses more efficient, for example diabetes – which can involve a number of different services.
Patients will be able to decide if they want the records or not and will be able to set them up with their GP (médecin traitant) or at a hospital.
Trials of the technology will begin in the next few weeks in regions including Aquitaine, Rhône-Alpes, Franche-Comté, Picardie with the full-scale launch set for 2010.
Health professionals have criticised the plan, which allows patients to review their records online and gives them the ability to erase certain details.
The director of the project to introduce the medical records, Michel Gagneux, admitted he had no idea of what its final cost will be.
In 2006, then health minister Xavier Bertrand estimated it could cost as much as a billion euros to set up.
