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.

Online Services – Patient Records

New contractual requirements were introduced from 1 April 2014 for all NHS General Practices to offer and promote;

• Patient on-line access to appointments (not currently available due to the COVID19 situation)
• Patient on-line access to prescriptions
• Patient on-line access to certain parts of their medical record

Practices must also;

• Transfer relevant information to a patient’s Summary Care Record (SCR)
• Transfer a patient’s record electronically between Practices when patients register or de-register
• (GP2P)

Long Bennington Medical Centre currently offers all registered patients;

• On-line access to repeat prescriptions
• On-line access to a summary of their medical record i.e. medications, allergies and adverse reactions
• Relevant information is transferred to a patients Summary Care Record (SCR)
• Electronic transfer of patient’s records between practices when patients register or deregister (GP2GP)
• Online access to full clinical record from the patient record (from 1.4.2019) and only when requested by completing an updated 
• From 31^st October 2023 patients will have access to their prospective medical record through The NHS App.

Online Access to Health Records Form

To access these services please ask for an application form from reception, photographic ID and separate proof of address will be required. An information leaflet about our online services can be found below:

Online Access to your Health Record leaflet

The NHS App allows you to access a range of NHS services. You can download the NHS App on your phone or tablet. You can also access the same services in a web browser by logging in through the NHS website.

You must be aged 13 or over to use the NHS App. You also need to be registered with a GP surgery in England or the Isle of Man. Find out more about who can use the NHS App.

What you can do with the NHS App

You need to prove who you are to get full access to the NHS App. With full access you can:

• order repeat prescriptions and nominate a pharmacy where you would like to collect them
• book and manage appointments
• view your GP health record to see information like your allergies and medicines 
• book and manage coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations
• register your organ donation decision
• choose how the NHS uses your data
• view your NHS number find out what your NHS number is
• use NHS 111 online to answer questions and get instant advice or medical help near you
• view your hospital and other healthcare appointments
• view useful links your doctor or health professional has shared with you

Before proving who you are, you can use the NHS App to:

• search trusted NHS information and advice on hundreds of conditions and treatments
• find NHS services near you

Keeping your data secure

To access the NHS App, you will need to set up an NHS login and prove who you are. Your NHS App then securely connects to information from your GP surgery.

If your device supports fingerprint detection or facial recognition, you can use it to log in to your NHS App each time, instead of using a password and security code.

Donwload the NHS App: NHS App on the App Store (apple.com) or NHS App - Apps on Google Play

Get help with the app

If you have any issues using or downloading the app, check the NHS App help and support page.

Please complete the attached form and return to our reception team if you wish to grant a relative or next of kin access to your medical records. Please note once access has been granted to someone else, it is the patients responsibility to inform Long Bennington Medical Centre if they wish this access to be revoked.

Consent to disclose medical information.pdf

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.