Patients handrd power to access own GP records

[Bouleversee]

was the heading of an article in The Times last Wednesday. Apparently in future all patients over 16 will in future have the right to access their GP record via an app on their phones, seeing doctors' notes, test results, and repeat prescriptions. Apparently 6 in ten GP surgeries are operating this service already and the rest must follow suit. Has anyone heard from their practice about this (I haven't) and been able to use it? I should very much like to do so but am worried that I will not be able to if it is restricted to smart phones (which I do not have) and not available on tablets. I couldn't find any reference to it via the play store icon on my tablet.

Please share your experiences with this service.

[the0ni0nking]

I can access all my consultations, test results, appointments, prescriptions etc on the app. I assumed this was common place - I think I've had such access since before the pandemic.

[Lootman]

I can access all my consultations, test results, appointments, prescriptions etc on the app. I assumed this was common place - I think I've had such access since before the pandemic.

Me too, but wasn't the question more about those lacking smart phones and so not being able to access an "app" without options for PCs, phone, paper or in-person?

[the0ni0nking]

I can access all my consultations, test results, appointments, prescriptions etc on the app. I assumed this was common place - I think I've had such access since before the pandemic.

Me too, but wasn't the question more about those lacking smart phones and so not being able to access an "app" without options for PCs, phone, paper or in-person?

I can do exactly the same on the web. Not sure if there is an initial need for a Smartphone to access the web-based results (which are the same as you can see from the app)

[Lootman]

Me too, but wasn't the question more about those lacking smart phones and so not being able to access an "app" without options for PCs, phone, paper or in-person?

I can do exactly the same on the web. Not sure if there is an initial need for a Smartphone to access the web-based results (which are the same as you can see from the app)

I am not sure either but the verification process for me setting up my NHS account was the most thorough vetting I have been through since applying for a work visa for the US, and I am not sure how I would have satisfied it on a PC.

But also the folks who use and need th NHS the most are those who are old and least likely to tech experts.

[mc2fool]

Do you not have an NHS account, Patient Access account, or similar?

I have both and can see most* of what you list. Note that despite the name, the NHS "app" isn't just on smart phones, it's also a website service that you can access with your regular browser on your PC; indeed, that's how I use it.

Patient Access, which you can also access as a regular website, gives you more or less the same as the NHS service, although the NHS login lets you book Covid and flu jabs at pharmacies, etc, with PA doesn't.

Start here for an NHS account: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/

* what you can see or do online will be up to your GP's policies and systems.

[tjh290633]

Our GP Practice uses SystmOnline on its website. If you have asked the practice for permission to do so, you can access your records through this, as well as via the NHS app if you have a smartphone. Permission is not automatic. You have to ask.

TJH

[mc2fool]

Our GP Practice uses SystmOnline on its website. If you have asked the practice for permission to do so, you can access your records through this, as well as via the NHS app if you have a smartphone.

You do not need a smartphone for the NHS app. See my post above and the link therein.

[Alaric]

I am not sure either but the verification process for me setting up my NHS account was the most thorough vetting I have been through since applying for a work visa for the US, and I am not sure how I would have satisfied it on a PC.

I agree it's totally convoluted. That can however be avoided by getting three codes from your GP Practice if you had previously registered for online usage and the "NHS App" also works through an NHS website.

https://access.login.nhs.uk/enter-email

[mutantpoodle]

I am not sure either but the verification process for me setting up my NHS account was the most thorough vetting I have been through since applying for a work visa for the US, and I am not sure how I would have satisfied it on a PC.

I agree it's totally convoluted. That can however be avoided by getting three codes from your GP Practice if you had previously registered for online usage and the "NHS App" also works through an NHS website.

https://access.login.nhs.uk/enter-email

I agree a totally complicated and awkward procedure for what should be a useful and time saving operation

i failed miserably when I tried but her indoors did it for me and all appeared fine
I havent actually used it though!!

[tjh290633]

Our GP Practice uses SystmOnline on its website. If you have asked the practice for permission to do so, you can access your records through this, as well as via the NHS app if you have a smartphone.

You do not need a smartphone for the NHS app. See my post above and the link therein.

That is not the NHS app, it's the NHS website. There is a difference.

TJH

[mc2fool]

You do not need a smartphone for the NHS app. See my post above and the link therein.

That is not the NHS app, it's the NHS website. There is a difference.

TJH

Same difference. The clue is in the address: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/patient/

[XFool]

I continue to be puzzled by this matter...

WRT the OP, I too have been using PatientAccess for years now to access my GP medical records, order repeat prescriptions and (originally) to book appointments. The latter was suspended during the Pandemic but has since been restored.

Then I was exhorted to get an NHS Account, which I didn't see the need for and didn't bother about, until this year. I finally registered for an NHS account (had no 'complications' registering - apart from my repeatedly dodgy mobile phone service but that is an entirely separate matter!). I expected it to duplicate what I can see already via PatientAccess - it doesn't.

What can I see when I log on to my NHS Account? Nothing. Well, I can see who I am - useful if I forget. I can see my log on details (and change them if needed) and see my NHS number, which is something. But that's it. I see nothing related to my COVID vaccine status in my NHS Account.

i.e. Apart from my NHS number the only thing I can see in my NHS account are the NHS account log in details, which I must already know as I used them to log on...

If I have upcoming medical appointments I have seen links appear to various service providers and I have been prompted to log on via text messages. But then I am expected to log in to and give my information to some various third party which, as I am generally unwilling to do, makes the links and seemingly the whole NHS Account pretty pointless to me.

I just stick to PatientAccess and ignore the NHS Account.

It also seems to me it is the inconsistency between how different GP practices now operate that is also causing confusion. e.g. Somebody I know used to exhort me to "Phone your surgery and make an appointment." - that is what they do. But I know that is exactly what my surgery does not allow or want me to do. I am OK with that as I already know how to deal with my GP, it isn't by phoning the surgery. It is via online Triage.

[Bouleversee]

Do you not have an NHS account, Patient Access account, or similar?

I have both and can see most* of what you list. Note that despite the name, the NHS "app" isn't just on smart phones, it's also a website service that you can access with your regular browser on your PC; indeed, that's how I use it.

Patient Access, which you can also access as a regular website, gives you more or less the same as the NHS service, although the NHS login lets you book Covid and flu jabs at pharmacies, etc, with PA doesn't.

Start here for an NHS account: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/

* what you can see or do online will be up to your GP's policies and systems.

I registered with Patient Access quite a while ago. However, I just tried to log in there and it seems to have changed a lot since I last had occasion to use it for blood test result and it didn't recognise my password. In any event, there was no mention of being able to access GP records. So I gave up on that and tried to set up an NHS account using your link. My goodness What a palaver! How to prove who I am? Well, I no longer have a passport. With IPF I am unlikely to fly again. I have a UK driving licence but the photo on it, which I think was carried over from the previous licence, could be anyone and I doubt if I could photo it on my tablet, so I am currently holding on to speak to the receptionist at my GP surgery (not the best day to phone) to ask for the registration details that could hopefully be supplied by them. After 18 mins I am now 4th in the queue. I started at No. 5 so I could be here all day and then it would not surprise me if I drew a blank. No wonder productivity is so low in this country. I shall have to wait for the information so will have to go through all the palaver on your link all over again another day. I can't think what on earth caller No. 5 can be discussing. I suspect the phone is just off the hook and I think I'll call it a day. I should have followed my instincts and done some gardening while we had a fine day for a change. I am curious to see my records as several weeks ago I sent in details of my blood pressure readings a new GP had asked me to record over a week and haven't heard anything since. I' m still waiting for the results of a CT scan I had on Sept 19 after a very long wait for a hospital appointment. 33 mins waited now and I'm still No. 4 in the queue, so that's it. Seems to me that all our public services have had it!

After submitting this, I was told about XFool's post. Ye Gods, what a mess it all is.

[mc2fool]

I registered with Patient Access quite a while ago. However, I just tried to log in there and it seems to have changed a lot since I last had occasion to use it for blood test result and it didn't recognise my password. In any event, there was no mention of being able to access GP records.

It's all about accessing GP records. Blood test results are in your GP record, as is everything else. I dunno about for you but for me Patient Access has a menu at the left that, amongst other things, includes under Medical Record:

Problems - Current / Past (Significant) / Past (Minor)
Medications - Acute / Repeat
Test Results - all of them
Documents - including letters to and from consultants etc etc
Consultations - every one since I joined the practice (very brief, no in depth details)
Immunisations - including ones given outside the practice (e.g. at the local chemists)
Allergies - I don't have any

I dunno what's up with XFool's NHS account but under mine there's a View your GP health record which gives the same info as above, albeit with a different presentation. Here's the sub-section of the page for me (the numbers are the number of entries under each; I'm not on 27 different medicines!).

[bungeejumper]

Our GP Practice uses SystmOnline on its website. If you have asked the practice for permission to do so, you can access your records through this, as well as via the NHS app if you have a smartphone. Permission is not automatic. You have to ask.

SystmOnline (yes, that's the spelling) is used at my GP's surgery, and yes, it's really informative. I used to have to make a physical appointment to learn in detail what my blood tests have said, but now I can read it all myself. (The surgery can and occasionally has phoned me if there are any concerns.)

Some items seem to be encrypted or restricted access, so that only the medics can read them. But when I had a half-hour consultation with an external medic earlier this year. she posted up the full transcript onto my account, which was enormously helpful.

At our surgery, all you need to do is turn up at reception and fill out a short form, and produce a passport or a photo driving licence, and the email link arrives a few days later, and then you're in. Proper joined-up thinking from the NHS.

BJ

[XFool]

I dunno what's up with XFool's NHS account but under mine there's a View your GP health record which gives the same info as above, albeit with a different presentation. Here's the sub-section of the page for me (the numbers are the number of entries under each; I'm not on 27 different medicines!).

None of the above is shown in my NHS Account. AFAIK all of the above is shown via my PatientAccess account.

So what is "up" with my NHS Account is that clearly there is no linkage between it and my GP's records, which I can already see via PatientAccess.

I have no idea how (or why?) such a link would be established - presumably the patient's NHS number would be key to that.

I am also surprised to hear of the security measures quoted here by people who set up their NHS Account. Passports? Driving licence? I had none of that, just a simple account set up using NHS number, email, password and mobile number for PIN text. Only issue was with the cursed local base station again - hardly the fault of the NHS.

Perhaps this extra security was used for people unable to quote their NHS number at account set up?

[mc2fool]

None of the above is shown in my NHS Account. AFAIK all of the above is shown via my PatientAccess account.

So what is "up" with my NHS Account is that clearly there is no linkage between it and my GP's records, which I can already see via PatientAccess.

I have no idea how (or why?) such a link would be established - presumably the patient's NHS number would be key to that.

I am also surprised to hear of the security measures quoted here by people who set up their NHS Account. Passports? Driving licence? I had none of that, just a simple account set up using NHS number, email, password and mobile number for PIN text. Only issue was with the cursed local base station again - hardly the fault of the NHS.

Perhaps this extra security was used for people unable to quote their NHS number at account set up?

No, the mentioned security happens even if you quote your NHS number, although that itself isn't actually needed, you just go through a bunch more questions if you don't know it.

After you log into your NHS account where do you end up? Is it at https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/patient/ ? That's where I arrive and what I see is:

[XFool]

Perhaps this extra security was used for people unable to quote their NHS number at account set up?

No, the mentioned security happens even if you quote your NHS number, although that itself isn't actually needed, you just go through a bunch more questions if you don't know it.

Not for me.

After you log into your NHS account where do you end up? Is it at https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/patient/ ? That's where I arrive and what I see is:

None of that. Apart from "Help" and "Logout".

No: "Advice", "Appointments", "Prescriptions", "Your health", "Messages".

[mc2fool]

None of that. Apart from "Help" and "Logout".

No: "Advice", "Appointments", "Prescriptions", "Your health", "Messages".

But do you arrive at https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/patient/ or somewhere else?

In any case, the fact that you haven't, for some reason unknown, undergone the strict identity checks and the fact that you aren't seeing your very personal medical info would, I think we can safely say, be extremely likely to be related. I can only suggest you call your GP practice and ask to talk to their IT techie. There's probably some mundane reason for it....