Accessing your medical details
Your medical details hold information about you and your medical history. Your medical details have your GP record, which includes information like any conditions or allergies you have and any medicine you’re taking.
They will also include records from any other NHS service you use, like the hospital, dentist or opticians, and will include letters, test results and appointment notes.
How to get your medical details
You can access your medical details with your NHS number on the NHS website. You can also request them from the surgery. Contact us to get your details.
If you are accessing medical details on behalf of someone else, then you’ll need to be nominated as someone they can trust to access them too.
Third Party Consent
Please print and complete the third party consent form below to grant an individual the consent to communicate with us about you. This will allow the individual permission to discuss your medical history with any member of staff at the practice. This will not give them permission to request a copy of your medical records. Providing an individual with third party consent is a very significant step and you should consider it carefully before it is given. You must consider what they could learn about your medical/personal issues and have fully considered the ramifications of giving that consent. If you are unsure about giving consent, we advise that you do not give it and that you seek legal advice before proceeding. For further information, please contact Reception on 01985 224600.
If you do not have access to a printer, Third Party Consent forms are also available at Reception.
Sharing Your Medical Record
Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.
The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.
e.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients' control and can be shared on a 'need to know' basis.
Summary Care Record
There is a new Central NHS Computer System called the Summary Care Record (SCR). The Summary Care Record is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. Initially, it will contain just your medications and allergies.
Later on as the central NHS computer system develops, (known as the ‘Summary Care Record’ – SCR), other staff who work in the NHS will be able to access it along with information from hospitals, out of hours services, and specialists letters that may be added as well.
Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held on central NHS databases.
As with all new systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.
On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. Connecting for Health (CfH), the government agency responsible for the Summary Care Record have agreed with doctors’ leaders that new patients registering with this practice should be able to decide whether or not their information is uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System.
For existing patients it is different in that it is assumed that you want your record uploaded to the Central NHS Computer System unless you actively opt out.
Your Integrated Care Record (ICR)
Your Integrated Care Record (ICR) is confidential and secure and helps doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals involved in your care to make better, safer decisions.
What is it?
The BSW ICR is an electronic health record that combines information from the different organisations involved in your health and care, such as your GP practice, hospitals and social care services and displays it all in one place.
What information is included?
Your ICR contains important information about you, including your contact details, medical history, medications, allergies, test results, hospital admissions, hospital referrals, social care and mental health referrals.
Who can see it?
Only people directly involved in your care will be able to see your data. This may include health and social care staff from GP Practices, hospitals, community trusts, mental health trusts, social care and NHS 111 staff.
For more information visit: Your care record - Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB