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.

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.

We’re now letting you see all the information within your health record automatically. If you are over 16 and have an online account, either through the NHS App or NHS website, you will now be able to see all future notes and health records from your doctor. Some people can already access this feature; this won’t change for you.

This means that you will be able to see notes from your appointments, as well as test results and any letters that are saved on your records. This only applies to records from your GP, not from hospitals or other specialists. You will only be able to see information from 31^st October 2023. For most people, access will be automatic, and you won’t need to do anything.

Your doctor may talk to you to discuss test results before you are able to see some of your information on the app. Your doctor may also talk to you before your records access is given to make sure that having access is of benefit to you. There might be some sensitive information on your record, so you should talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

These changes only apply to people with online accounts. 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 our reception team.

The NHS App, website and other online services are all very secure, so no one is able to access your information except you. You’ll need to make sure you protect your login details. Don’t share your password with anyone as they will then have access to your personal information.

If you do not want to see your health record, please submit an Administration Request through our online AccuRx system and our team will action this for you.

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

Reasonable adjustments are small changes that can help people with a disability or health condition with a big and long term effect on their lives to be treated equally. 

The law says that reasonable adjustments should be put in place. These are simple changes made by healthcare staff. It is your right to ask for reasonable adjustments.

This could be the way that they treat you or the things that you need when you are in hospital. Every person is different and will need different things but there are some which are more common.

Examples of reasonable adjustments you could ask for include:

• Doctors who speak clearly and use simple words
• More time with the doctor, for example, a double appointment
• Having support workers or family members with you

If you would like us and other NHS services to offer you reasonable adjustments, please ask a member of our Reception Team to arrange this for you.

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.

Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicines. Long Bennington Medical Centre supports medical research by sending some of the information from patient records to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

CPRD is a Government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve patient andpublic health. Identifiable data flows to NHS Digital but you cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD.

If you do not want anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by contacting our Reception Team that will raise the request for your opt out.

For more information about how your data is used visit www.cprd.com/public