Online access to your medical records held by your GP practice.
All Mereside Medical Practices are registered with the Information Commissioners Office. As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the UK GDPR/Data Protection Act 2018. All access to notes by a patient, patient’s representative or outside body will be dealt with in accordance with the Act.
As your GP practice, we have been asked to provide all patients over the age of 16 with, no later than 31 October 2023, online access to your full medical record going forward from that date. This is called ‘prospective access’ i.e. access to historical records will not automatically be provided. Please refer to our Privacy Policy and Subject Access Request Policy for more information about how else to access your medical records.
You can request online access to your medical record in SystmOnline. You can also request proxy access for someone you care for, if you have their consent. Please see how to register for access to your online record here. You can also access your medical record via the NHS smartphone app (and NHS website) if you have a suitable NHS login. See below for more information.
Your GP medical record contains consultation notes based on conversations between you, your GP and their team: medicines prescribed to you; all results for tests ordered by the practice; allergies; vaccines; and your medical conditions along with documents that may have been sent to your practice from local hospitals, clinics or other agencies. There is likely to be sensitive and personal information within your medical record.
We are supportive of providing you with access to your record, but we wish to do this safely and make you aware that this is happening so that you can opt out, if you so wish (you may have personal reasons for doing so). You may wish to speak with us to understand what information you will see, and the risks which may be involved in having confidential data either on your smartphone or online, if other people might have access to your devices or log in details.
Government has been clear that if a patient does not wish to have access, then we do not have to provide it.
It’s important to remember that your medical record may, at times, contain information that could be upsetting, such as news of a serious condition. It can also be a cause for worry seeing results online when it isn’t clear what the results might mean, and no one is available to ask, for example during the evening or at weekends. Please be prepared for a wait while your clinician reviews your results before they may be able to speak to you about them.
There may be reasons why it may be clinically appropriate, or your preference, for part or all of your medical record to be hidden from view on the online record. Examples include matters relating to your mental health or your safety. If the release of information is likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health to you or another individual, we may refuse or reduce access to prospective records; third party information may also not be disclosed if deemed necessary.
Obtaining access – how can I see my medical record?
You may receive a text message or letter from us over the coming weeks asking you to confirm which parts of your medical record you would like online access to. If you do not hear from us, please use either of the routes below to access your online medical record. We will be working through our patient list as fast as we can but it may take some time to enact these changes for everyone.
- Directly on SystmOnline: https://systmonline.tpp-uk.com/.
SystmOnline is our secure practice data system for your medical data. Many of our patients already have online access to their medical records on SystmOnline. In this case, you don’t need to do anything.If you already have SystmOnline access, but are unable to see your medical record on or after Nov 1 2023 and would like to, please contact your practice.Likewise, if you can see your medical record on SystmOnline but no longer wish to, please contact us.
If you have not yet requested log in details for your SystmOnline account, please complete the form available here and bring it to the practice with the relevant identification.
- Via the NHS App or NHS Online: https://www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/login.You may also see your medical record via the NHS smartphone app or NHS Online, by logging in with your NHS account details. Your NHS account log in details are set up by you directly at the link above.
Your NHS account is separate from and additional to your SystmOnline log in details (which we would provide you with). You may have already set up an NHS account, for example to obtain a Covid Vaccination passport.
Unfortunately, practice staff are not able to provide technical support relating to your NHS account.
If you already have an NHS account, but are unable to see your medical record on or after Nov 1 2023 and would like to, please contact your practice.
Likewise, if you can see your medical record on your NHS account but no longer wish to, please contact us.
If you have any queries about this please contact your practice.
