As your GP practice, we have been asked to provide you with access to your full medical record going forward via the NHS app (and NHS website) if you have a suitable NHS login. This will be going live for our practice starting from the 1st November 2023. We are aware that not everyone will want access to their full record on the internet at this time and some patients may have concerns about their personal medical records being made available on their on their smartphone or online. If you would like to switch off access for the time being, please submit an online request under the admin request. You can change your mind at any time by contacting us again.
Your GP medical record contains consultation notes based on conversations between you, your GP and their team: medicines prescribed to you; all test results including hospital investigations; allergies; vaccines; and your medical conditions along with documents that may have been sent from local hospitals, clinics or other agencies, eg the police. There is likely to be sensitive and personal information within your medical record and at times it may contain information that could be upsetting, especially if they contain news of a serious condition.
We are supportive of providing you with access to your record, but we wish to do this safely and make you aware that this is happening so that you can opt out, if you so wish. Patients will need to submit a new request under administrative query and your request will be activated.
It is important that you are aware of the risks which may be involved in having such confidential data either on your smartphone with the NHS app installed or online if other people might have access to that information through your devices. If you are in a difficult or pressured relationship for example, you may prefer your records to remain accessible only to those treating you, with them not appearing on your smartphone or online. Anyone in such a position should make this clear to us at the practice, so we can take steps to keep you safe.
Sometimes people with a mental health condition might prefer not to see documents that remind them of difficult times in their life. Letters from mental health teams sometimes go into detail about past events, and great care would be needed in deciding whether you would want to see these letters.
The below link can be a useful guide to help understand some abbreviations that may be in your medical records:
The below link is a useful guide to gain more understanding of the NHS app and how to use: