IT/Electronic Patient Records Policy

New contractual arrangements came into force on 1st April 2014 requiring GP practices to make available a statement of intent about the following IT developments:

  • Referral Management Information
  • Online Appointment Booking
  • Online Booking of repeat prescriptions
  • Summary Care Record
  • GP2GP transfers of care records
  • Patient Access to electronic records.

Please find below details of the arrangements we have in place for these developments at this Practice:

Referral Management Information

Practices must include the NHS Number as the primary identifier in all NHS clinical correspondence issued by the practice. All letters and information that we send to other organisations such as, hospitals, have an NHS number clearly shown.

Electronic Appointment Booking

We offer booking and cancelling of routine GP appointments online. Please register with the NHS app and follow the simple instructions to register.

Online Requesting of Repeat Prescriptions

Practices are required to promote and offer the facility for all patients, who wish to, to order online, view and print a list of their repeat prescriptions for necessary drugs, medicines or appliances. We currently offer the facility for ordering repeat prescriptions online. Please register either by selecting ‘Services’ followed by ‘GP Online services’ to find out what GP online services are available to you; alternatively, select ‘Prescriptions’ followed by ‘Emis GP online services’. Then simply follow the instructions to register.

Interoperable Records/Summary Care Record

Practices are required to upload changes to a patient’s summary information, at least daily, to the Summary Care record. Having your Summary Care Record available will help other doctors and nurses treating you away from your regular surgery, without your full medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any drugs to which you have a recorded allergy or sensitivity. More details about the Summary Care Record can be found on the Summary Care Record website. This function is already live; however, if you do not want your medical records to be available in this way please let us know. You can do this via the ‘opt out form’, available at reception.

GP2GP Transfers of Care Records

We are required to utilise the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers. It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new one, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded to your new GP via NHS England. It can take several weeks for paper records to reach the new surgery; with GP2GP, your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much sooner. GP2GP transfers are already activated at this practice for sending and receiving patient records.

Patient Access to Their Electronic GP Record

We are required to promote and offer the facility for patients to view online, export or print any summary of information from their records relating to medications, allergies, adverse reactions and any other additional details which have been agreed with the patient. This facility is already available to patients. Please register by selecting ‘Services’ followed by ‘Emis GP Online services’ to find out what GP online services are available to you. Once you register for Emis online services you may view your medication, allergies, adverse reactions and vaccinations.