Patient Record
Important information about online access to patient records
The NHS wants to give people better ways to see their personal health information online. We know that people want to be able to access their health records. It can help you see test results faster. It also lets you read and review notes from your appointments in your own time.
From 1st February 2023, some patients over the age of 16 may be able to see new information from your doctor (GP) on your online account, through the NHS app, website or another secure record access app. This information may include notes from your appointment as well as test results and letters.
If you currently have online access you do not need to do anything as the changes will automatically be implemented. If you do not currently have access to your online account please register via the NHS App and your NHS account - NHS (www.nhs.uk) or speak to a receptionist who can verify your identification and grant access.
These changes only apply to people with online accounts. If you do not want an online account, you can still access your health records by requesting this information through reception. The changes also only apply to personal information about you. If you are a carer and would like to see information about someone you care for, speak to reception staff.
It’s very important that you protect your login details to the NHS App, website or other online services. Don’t share your password with anyone as they will then have access to your personal information. You should also make sure you log off as soon as you have finished viewing your record, as this may not happen automatically for some apps.
If you do not want to see your health record, or if you would like more information about these changes, please speak to a member of Practice team.
If you are wanting access to historic medical records prior to 1st February 2023 please speak to a member of the Practice team who can action this for you. Please note this access can take up to 30days to action.
Not Registered for Online Services?
Sharing Your Medical Record
Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.
The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.
e.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients' control and can be shared on a 'need to know' basis.
Summary Care Record
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). The Summary Care Record is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. Initially, it will contain just your medications and allergies.
Later on as the central NHS computer system develops, (known as the ‘Summary Care Record’ – SCR), other staff who work in the NHS will be able to access it along with information from hospitals, out of hours services, and specialists letters that may be added as well.
Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held on central NHS databases.
As with all new systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.
On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. Connecting for Health (CfH), the government agency responsible for the Summary Care Record have agreed with doctors’ leaders that new patients registering with this practice should be able to decide whether or not their information is uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System.
For existing patients it is different in that it is assumed that you want your record uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System unless you actively opt out.