Patient Access lets you use the online services of your local practice. These may include arranging appointments, repeat medication, secure messages, medical record and updating your details.
What use are Forum members making of patient access?
Our GP practice had an online system that allowed me to make appointments, request repeat and other prescriptions and see medical records including referrals, test results with GP comments. There were some other items that they had not activated.
Recently they said that they were going over to a new improved system and the old one was discontinued and the practice more or less came to a halt while it was installed and staff learnt it.
We found that most of the old items were not available or activated. The worst part was that if you had an appointment with a nurse it did not allow you make an appointment with a doctor. So patients with regular appointments with a nurse for dressings or INR were left in limbo. This week we found that even our two minute appointments for Flu jabs prevented making a GP appointment.
I had initially asked the practice manager about the lack of facilities in the new system. She told me that was how the system is and they cannot make any changes to it and that the same applies to all practices in the area.
I looked at the EMIS web site and found instructions for patients on how to use the system and it showed options for making separate appointments with a nurse, GP or others. I E-Mailed the practice again with a link to the EMIS link but was again told that they cannot make changes to the system. I then had correspondence with EMIS who said in separate replies:
“Your surgery can contact us directly for any assistance with your account. Please advise your surgery because they are the only people who can make changes to your account”
“Your practice do control how they use the system in the best interest of their patients so you will need to contact them back as there is limited more we can advise”
I forwarded that to the practice manager and await her reply. Of course from previous experience I know that they are not very computer literate.
Written by
seasider18
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🙄 Our surgery uses this system in a very limited way. We can make an appointment in advance to see our own GP, nurse appointments are shown, we can order repeat prescriptions. That seems to be it! More features would certainly be useful.
The strange thing with ours that I have not mentioned to them as it is to our advantage is that when we can make appointments that have three categories including same day one.
There are more of the same day ones with our doctor and they are always for there for about ten days ahead so they are not same day ones. They are always for his first and last five of the day and suit us better.
I use the Using (EMIS) Patient Access and it is becoming a nightmare.
I noticed the layout of the site has changed this week with old prescriptions being listed at the top which is quite confusing .
I order repeat prescription for my medication then check before going to collect it 5 miles away that it has been 'accepted' . Twice recently my request has been 'rejected' once being today with no explanation on the site leaving me in a state of panic because I can't be without my anticoagulant and beta blockers.
On the first occasion it was rejected because of a dosage query. I can only assume on this occasion it is because I queried why my prescription for Nobivolol had changed from 2.5mg to 5mg tablets , I thought they had made a mistake. I received a letter this morning to say it had changed in order to save money and I was to cut the 5mg tablets in half (not a very accurate way to take a potent drug) so I don't know why the prescription has been rejected and I will need to spend ages on the phone tomorrow trying to find out before I run out of medication.
I use also the online system to book appointments, I can choose to see a Doctor, Nurse, and some Clinics .
I had the same thing happen with Nebivolol three years ago and apparently this drug is made to be split in two and there is a break mark on the tablet to indicate this. But quite why the 2.5mg version costs more than the 5mg version I've no idea.
I have heard this may be happening in some areas with Apixaban....reducing the dosage to those in their 70's from 500mg x 2 daily to 250mg 2daily....to save money? both patients of my acquaintance are querying it but so far no explanation.
I have just been on the telephone to the surgery to find out why my repeat prescription of Apixaban and Nabivolol has been 'rejected' again and I have told them that when this happens I find it stressful because I must not run out of or stop taking the drug . Last time this happened I was down to one days supply.
I was just told the prescription has been issued and the person says she doesn't know why it says rejected.
The whole idea of this system surely is to save people ringing the doctors for repeat prescriptions, if people then have to ring up to see why prescriptions have been rejected the system is not fit for purpose.
I no longer use it as available appointments on EMIS generally had a four week wait. Prescriptions are only issued for a month supply whether submitted in person or via EMIS.
I order repeat prescriptions on line and it tells me the earliest date I can do it which is 7 days before I would run out. Prescription is sent to Boots and Boots text me when it is ready for collection.
I can book on line appts with my own GP only. As she only works Mon Tues Wed this is a bit limited. Nurse appts have to be made by phone.
I can access test results and view any activity which includes all the reminder texts as well as doctor and nurse appts. Activity does not tell me anything about consultation
I was fascinated by the amount of dressings that have been ordered on my behalf ( have had daily dressings for six weeks) to be kept at the surgery.
The system is Systm online.
I use Patient Access and it had bugs. All I do is repeat prescriptions and the occasional appointment. If I cancel an appointment I just get an error code and the appointment stays in place. But when I phoned the surgery to tell them I couldn't cancel it, the appointment had in fact been cancelled on their system!
Why does the medical sector have such a problem with IT? Mind you, BA isn't much better 😀.
..It certainly has bugs, on occasion I have selected and made an appointment and it hasn't gone through with a message appearing saying something like 'that appointment is no longer available' so I have made another only to find by accident at a later date the first one had gone through and I now have two .
It's not only EMIS access has this problem. I was booking tickets for the cinema recently, and had the message "Something has gone wrong, your seats are no longer available". I booked two adjacent seats and then found all four were booked in my name (I only paid for 2 though!). It was nice to have a choice of where to sit, and we did move part way through the showing.
Our surgery is also Systems on line, works very similarly to Bagrat’s description except we can order meds several weeks in advance, can make individual requests other than repeat prescriptions and can no longer see test results, which is a pain as I have to now go down to the surgery and ask for a print out for which they charge.
We can see short version of Medical notes and book an appointment with a GP, normally within 24 hours if you don’t need to see a particular doctor.
Can’t book appointments for nurses, at the moment, but I was told we will be able to soon.
My understanding was that the system is adapatable and can be tailored to individual surgery’s requirements.
I would suggest that as illustrated on Radio 4 news this morning many surgeries and hospitals ignore investing in IT infrastructure and the personnel to update and adapt at their peril.
I'm registered with EMIS at my GPs for the reasons it's meant for. However, the pharmacy that I use, has a similar system for ordering the repeat prescriptions. I order over the phone, the pharmacy clears it with the GP , and if requested will deliver. Much of the time it works out quicker than EMIS. I book appointments by phone through the GP's receptionist. Dave
That's ok if you can get through, when I was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack the A&E doc wanted to speak to my surgery but had steam coming out of his ears because he waited for ages and couldn't get a reply - they have changed the system now.....
Also they have a triage system so if you phone up you are grilled about your reason for seeing the doc and shunted to a nurse if at all possible.
Our surgery has the same system, and while my husband can use it to book appointments (he doesn’t have any repeat prescriptions) I am not able to use it at all, as it refuses to accept my password, which has been changed several times, but still no luck!
My local Boots requests my repeat prescriptions though, and sends me a text to let me know when they are in, so that has made life so much easier.
A very basic problem, you might be better getting them to delete you from the system and start over again.
The practice responded to my last E-Mail saying that they will look into it. I thanked them and told them of some of the problems users here and on another Forum are having. I'm quite sure that the problems are not the fault of EMIS. A company worth 610 million pounds whose shares I would buy if they were not so expensive.
EMIS Group plc provides healthcare software, information technology and related services in the United Kingdom. The Company operates through three segments: Primary & Community Care; Community Pharmacy, and Secondary & Specialist Care. The Company serves various healthcare markets under the EMIS Health brand. The Primary & Community Care division provides clinical information technology (IT) systems for general practitioners (GPs) and commissioners. The Secondary & Specialist Care division is a software provider to NHS Acute Trusts and Boards, focused primarily on hospital pharmacy, A&E and patient administration systems, as well as provider of diabetic eye screening software, and other ophthalmology-related solutions. The Community Pharmacy division is an integrated community pharmacy dispensary and retail system. EMIS Health provides clinical software to customers across the healthcare sector. Its brand EMIS Care specializes in the delivery of diabetic retinopathy eye screening.
My surgery uses Systemonline which I have not had a problem with, however that's probably due to up until May I rarely needed to see a GP. Since then I have now given up trying to book an appointment with a GP as there is usually a choice of about 3-4 appointments in a 3 week period .... in 3 weeks time. So not helpful if you are feeling unwell now!
The surgery are going to be trying a new system in November "to increase appointment capacity. When you call the surgery details will be taken & a GP will call you back that day at a scheduled time. The GP may not be based at the practice but will have full access to your records."
When our one went over to their new system it was obviously the same system that all others are using but when it was set up we were offered a choice of three service providers. The reason or difference between them was not explained so I chose Patient Access (Emis) as I knew of them. The other two were Dimec and Evergreen Life.
I don't like the idea of being triaged whether by a nurse or a doctor. Our receptionists don't ask the reason for your appointment but if it is urgent I will give the reason. For on line requests there is a brief space to give a reason. Ours has been a rather old fashioned practice that has been in its ancient building since 1897.
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