Family doctors have given the thumbs up to electronic health records, saying they would help them give patients a better service.

Association of Private Family Doctors president Anthony Azzopardi said the group was "all for it".

Last Monday Communications Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament that new identity cards to be introduced next year would contain an electronic chip carrying the individual's health record.

The information would be linked to Mater Dei Hospital, health clinics and, in time, to general practitioners' clinics.

When contacted Dr Azzopardi said that since the association was set up some three years ago, it has been striving to find ways how family doctors can improve the service they give patients.

"This does not depend solely on us, but also on the administrators of public health," he said.

One of the problems encountered by doctors is the lack of access to records of patients kept within the public sector.

Some patients go to their family doctor after being discharged from hospital without a discharge note and often doctors do not have access to patients' records to be able to compare test results.

"Access will facilitate our work and allow us to help patients better."

Asked whether family doctors also want to be able to add data to the records, Dr Azzopardi said this would be another step forward and could actually save the government money by avoiding repetition of medical tests.