Another Delay to the Auto Switch On of Prospective Medical Record Access in England?

[DJR1]

The long awaited auto switch on of EMIS and TPP systems allowing patients to read their prospective digital GP record looks like being delayed again. It was delayed from December 2021 to April 2022 and now the RCGP has raised further objections requesting a minimum delay of 8 weeks but in the article published here suggesting a much longer period of time. In fact the GP contract stated prospective access should be given to patients in 2019 but a large number of Practices have not actioned this hence the automatic switch on to support the Five Year Forward Plan. You can individually apply for prospective access from your GP and request access to historical records in line with the GMS contract update published 6 February 2020. Many patients are being wrongly refused the mandated access and the auto switch on is a means of ensuring fair access across English GP Practices. The link to the full article is here

managementinpractice.com/ne...

[Gcart]

Don’t understand , does this gain more info from the current patient access available ? What would that cover from consults you have had ?

[DJR1 in reply to Gcart]

For some patients it might mean no change as some GP Practices are very open to sharing all information and working in equal partnership with their patients. Many Practices in ENGLAND have already switched on

FULL ACCESS TO RECORDS and their patients can see

All coded information (see below)

free text,

documents

letters

So you can read the written account of any consultation with the doctor -what was said and what was agreed. You would see all referral letters, hospital letters and letters from/to other people like insurance reports. All third party data would be redacted. In addition you would also see your Coded information.

Some GP Practices only offer DETAILED CODED RECORD ACCESS not full record record access.

Your CODED information consists of

Demographics

Allergies/adverse reactions

Medication (dose, quantity and last issue)

Immunisations

Test results (numerical values and normal ranges )

Values ( Blood Pressure etc)

Problem List/Diagnoses)

Procedure codes (medical, surgical and consultation codes)

Codes indicating referral made or letter received

Some GP Practices DO NOT OFFER/ALLOW any record access as they choose not to/don’t agree with giving patients their information in this way. This is not in line with their GP contract in ENGLAND and is a breach of the GP contract.

The GP contract has mandated FULL PROSPECTIVE ( future) access since April 2020.

Many Practices have not switched this access on so NHS England made the decision to switch on medical records by the computer systems at national level to promote fair and equal access. There are GP’s who are not happy with this and are requesting delay.

(However if you do not have prospective access you can request it at your GP surgery by a registration form and usually it will be given as it is contractual. You can also request access to your HISTORICAL records by writing this on the registration form.)

PROBLEMS arise because

1. GP and Practice staff are not aware of the contractual obligation

2. They don’t understand their computer systems and don’t know how to change the settings

3. There is a faction who don’t agree with access.

4. There is a caveat, if the information in a record is sensitive or may cause harm to the patient access can be refused.

This information as usual applies to those people within NHS ENGLAND.

[Poppy_Ann]

Hi there, I have been able to view my records on line for several years, it started when I requested a copy of my records to help with a claim from the army, at the time to get a copy of your records all you had to do is to ask and pay the fee which was £25 for digital records and £50 for any paper records, when I went to collect them the receptionist told me that it had taken almost a week for them to photo copy them all when I started to read them they went all the way back to when I was born and up to when they started to use computers to store them the computer records covered from around 6 months before they stopped using paper records, for the digital ones they just gave me a link for me to download or browse myself the link still works but since the new NHS system has gone live I can check them from either site.

Good luck in accessing your records regards Poppy Ann

[DJR1 in reply to Poppy_Ann]

This is fantastic and your surgery is commendable. I tried to access my medical history online as NHS England recommends online access in preference to printing costs and staff time. The practice refused.

The root cause of the confusion and continuing objection is that GP Practices are all private businesses and can set their own policy. The very welcome change in the General Medical Services contract sought to eliminate the choice of offering access to records and bring equity across all Practices. I am hopeful eventually that like you, everyone will have their medical information to help organise their health.