My doctor's surgery is only contracted to give patients coded access to their records.

[2pence]

In reply to my email requesting full historical access to my patient records I have received an email stating that they are contracted only for coded access.

"As a practice we have not enabled full record access, this means that at the time you registered we would have had to switch it on for every patient to enable you to have access, we are currently only contracted to give patients detailed coded record access. As part of the NHS digital transformation, access to full records was brought in very recently, this has now been put on hold due to the concerns that the BMA, RCGP and the LMCs have so for now you will only see information that comes within the detailed coded record.  

As soon as the situation changes we will notify patients via our website."

Does DJR1 know anything about this?

[Brightness14]

No wonder the NHS is going down the pan.

[PurpleNails Administrator]

DRJ1 would be able give more accurate & expert information than I could. 

Do you have -any- access to medical records ie current records from when you applied for access & practice refusing historical ? Or do you have no access at all?

Are you in England? As rules are different elsewhere.  

Auto switch on refers to automatically granting full access & prospective record from 2019. It was stalled on December 2021, April 2022 , 1 November 2022, 30 November 2022 by unwilling practices, But I believe from 6 Feb it does apply, I reiterate England only.

Basic coded access has always been the initial level granted and practice can set up to allow further access.  I’m pretty certain it’s always been set up to be upon request of patient & setting date parameters for historical record has to be applied.  the excuse about “switching it on for every patient” doesn’t sound factual.  

[2pence in reply to PurpleNails]

I have access to order medication and see test results but no documents and just codes for interaction. A year ago before we moved I had access back to when the record was digitised. When I originally has this access I went through and pointed out all their errors which my then practice took onboard and corrected. Changed surgeries with our move and lost everything

I had pointed out to them that I was asking for full and historical access to my records and that under their GMS contract full historical access on request was an addition to their contract in February 2020 available to patients from April 2020. I think those dates are correct.

I find it hard to believe that to switch access in for me requires them to switch it on for every patient on their list. I know this wasn’t so at my previous surgery. I have emailed TPP to ask as the surgery uses System Online.

I’m hoping that DJR1 will see this and make some comments.

[serenfach]

Under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) individuals have a legal right to apply for access to health information held about them. This is a “Subject Access Request”. It includes NHS or private health records held by a GP, optician or dentist, or by a hospital.

I dont care what sort of code they have to put in. They are breaking the LAW to deny you access to your own notes. There are huge fines for breaking GDPR.

[Regenallotment Ambassador]

I have asked my practice the same thing, they did have a workaround for getting copies of reports from scans etc I was able to ask my hospital and they gave me a complicated login and I was able to view download and print pdfs but I had to specify which ones and the dates. It’s laborious but they did share the info as they are legally obliged to. 🌱

[DJR1]

If your GP Practice is under contract to NHS England the information given is incorrect. The image below on page 53 of the GMS contract 2020/21 clearly states that the full historical digital record WILL be given if the patient makes a request.

However although this is a contractual requirement some practices continue to deny access. Unfortunately there are no sanctions for failing to comply with the contract.

The auto switch on referred to is a separate issue and not related to the clause on page 53. This has muddied the waters with some Practice staff. The aim of auto switch on was to ensure ALL patients were given access to digital records starting with their future records. This would effectively remove the personal choice exercised by some GP/Practices on whether to give access. Although the auto switch on keeps failing due to a small but powerful group of opposers it does not remove the contractual obligation stated on page 53. I can only suggest you submit a copy of page 53 and ask for that clause to be followed.

In addition, all GP systems are set up to provide different levels of access for each individual patients. My previous posts show images of the setting pages for EMIS Web which is the system for Patient Access. All the GP systems have this option. The person who wrote the email has no understanding of how their system works.

In summary

Full digital access to the historical and prospective record is mandatory within the contract

It is possible to set different levels of access for individual patients.

My previous posts have links to the full contract document and system setting images.

Good Luck.

Text showing Page 53 of the 2020/21 GMS contract and digital requirements.