Online Access
Online Access To Your Medical Record
Online Access To Your Medical Record
Registering For Online Services
If you are not already registered for online services please register via The NHS App
The NHS App uses an online ID checking system so users will be able to set up access via this app with no need to visit the surgery.
Access to Online Services
If you wish to you can now use the internet to:
- order repeat prescriptions
- see parts of your health record, including information about medicines, vaccinations and test results
- see correspondence between your GP surgery and other services, such as hospitals
You can also still use the telephone or call in to the surgery for any of these services as well (however, we do not take requests for repeat medication over the phone).
Being able to see your record online might help you to manage your medical conditions. It also means that you can access it from anywhere in the world should you require your medical information for treatment while you are abroad.
There are a number of providers who offer a platform through which you can access online services. The NHS App is the preferred provider, but please follow the link below for more information about 'Online Services' and alternative providers, including Patient Access.
If you are over 16 years of age and wish to register for online access to your records, please come into the practice to complete a registration form - we need to see photo ID, proof of address and obtain signed consent due to data protection legislation.
Please note - each patient registering for online access will need a separate email address for their account - we have encoutered issues where members of the same family are trying to use the same email address to register.
Unfortunately the General Medical Council, the British Medical Association, NHS England and the Medical Protection Society all strongly discourage giving access to under 16 year olds. We regret therefore that that this service will not be available to them or their parents at the current time.
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.