Background It is important that research conducted in general practice is ethical and technically robust. Electronic health records (EHRs) have high potential to contribute to research and policy that benefits both individual patients and the broader community. General practitioners are increasingly approached to make EHRs available for research, but they also have ethical and legal obligations to ensure personal information remains confidential and is handled safely.

Objective The aim of this article is to discuss the ethical considerations associated with the pooling of general practice EHRs for research.

Discussion There are associated benefits and potential risks to patients and practices when using pooled EHR data for research. Careful consideration and judgement are required to ensure ethical requirements are met, with particular attention to informed consent, data quality and confidentiality.