IT / Electronic Patient Records
New contractual arrangements came into force on 1st April 2014 requiring GP practices to make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:
- Summary Care Record (SCR)
- GP to GP Record Transfers (GP2GP)
- Patient Online Access to their GP Record
- Data for Commissioning and other secondary care purposes
The same contractual obligations require that we have a statement of intent regarding these developments in place and publicised by 30th September 2014.
Please find below details of the arrangements Southend Road Surgery has in place for these developments.
Summary Care Record (SCR)
NHS England requires practices to enable successful automated uploads of any changes to patient summary information, at least on a daily basis, to the SCR.
Having your SCR available to other service providers, such as hospitals, will help those treating you by allowing them to see a small part of your GP medical record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any allergies you may have.
Of course, if you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record. If you have already advised us that you do not want a SCR available outside of the practice, you do not need to do so again, your records will have already been excluded from this. More details about the SCR can be found at https://digital.nhs.uk/services/summary-care-records-scr
Southend Road Surgery confirms that your SCR is already automatically updated on at least a daily basis to ensure that your information is as up to date as it can possibly be.
GP to GP Record Transfers (GP2GP)
NHS England requires practices to use the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers. This does not apply to temporary patient registrations.
It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times. If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be electronically removed from your previous doctor and forwarded to your new GP via Primary Care Support Services. If you have been registered with a practice in England, your records will be transferred electronically with immediate effect upon registration using GP2GP transfer,
Patient Online Access to their GP Record
NHS England requires practices to promote and offer the facility to enable patient online access to appointments, prescriptions, allergies and information regarding any adverse reactions to medications.
Southend Road Surgery confirms that the facility to book and cancel appointments, to order repeat prescriptions online via SystmOne Online Services as well as the NHS App, is available. Access to GP services by Total Triage is active, enabling patients to enter their medical request via an online form for the GP to see within 2 working days.
In addition, patients can already update contact details, medical details and provide BP Monitor readings online. If you do not already have a username and password for this system, you can find more information on Patient Access on the practice website under “Online Services” or by asking at reception.
Southend Road Surgery also offer patients the facility to access their own summary information from their records relating to medication, allergies, adverse reactions and any other items that may have previously been agreed between the practice and the patient.
Data for Commissioning and other secondary care purposes
It is already a requirement of the Health & Social care Act that practices must meet the reasonable data requirements of commissioners and other health and social care organisations through appropriate and safe data sharing for secondary usage, as specified in the technical specification for care data.
Southend Road Surgery has specific arrangements in place to allow patients to “opt out” of care.data if they wish to. Care.data allows patient data to be used outside of the practice. For further information about care.data please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/review-of-health-and-care-data-security-and-consent. If you wish to opt out of this data sharing please contact reception.
Southend Road Surgery confirms these arrangements are already in place and that we undertake annual training and audits to ensure that all our data is handled correctly and safely via the Information Governance Toolkit.