Joining the digital dots across primary care and integrated care

My partner and I both received a letter today from our respective GPs. An invitation for a 'FREE LUNG HEALTH CHECK'.

Overleaf is an information sheet in landscape about the health check, plus three more sides of A4, similarly formatted - inviting trifold presentation.

After the 'Re. ......' an opening sentence asks: 'Have you ever been a smoker?'

Suddenly, I was dragged backwards through his-tory (some things don't change); not one history, but several:

INDIVIDUAL

|

    INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

My personal and life experience  and not just since my teens . . .

The letter states: **If you have never smoked, you are not eligible for this service**

My mother and father  smoked when I was a child and my siblings.    They got the message early 1980s.    'Society' smoked back then!     Once old enough, I refused to go to the corner shop.   Into the 1990s, patients, smoking (some chain-smoking) on admission, long-stay and other clinical areas. As a community mental health nurse, I learned diplomatic and health promoting skills when in the car, giving a patient a lift to hospital. And, when visiting their home where I was, of course, usually, a guest.

I wondered what has happened to the GP's records? To the primary care clinical record ? The custodians of my health record, that they should need to ask that question?    Or, does confidentiality tie some bureaucratic knots?   Where is 'integrated care' and its driver 'clinical informatics'?  The letter included the NHS Number.    Don't get me wrong, I/we appreciate the obvious effort here, even if the chronology is confusing, or,  speaks of afterthought? The letters are dated 19/06/2025. I must admit I haven't accessed my GP record, checking it for accuracy.   If anything, this is a prompt to do so. And seek a general medical.

Previously: 'smoking' : 'winwick'