Access Your Records Online via Patient Access

Did you know that many people can now access most of their health records online?  Reedyford Health Care is please to be able to offer this as a service to our patients.

There is no obligation on GP practices to allow patients to access their health records online, however there are several practices around the UK which have been offering online access to their patients with good results.  We are piloting access to online records for our patients at Reedyford Health Care on an individual basis.

In 2012 the UK Government announced that they plan on making online access to health records available to all patients from 2015. They have not issued clear guidelines about how to manage the three scenarios shown below which would make it difficult to be able to offer this to all our patients. We appreciate that you may feel that these restrictions on access are less than ideal.  We may review these restrictions once we are more familiar with the practicalities of offering patients access to their records online.

We are currently accepting patients onto the online access to records service.  Please enquire with reception about access to records.

Not All Patients Can Access Their Records Online

There are a few groups of patients who we are unable to offer this service to at this time.  There are only a few reasons why people may not be allowed access.  These rules have been chosen for specific reasons and to comply with the law around patients having access to their records.  All patients have the option of asking to see their health records.  The option of being able to see your record without a member of the practice staff being present is a big advantage to having access to records online but this also presents us with some new challenges.

Patients Who Cannot Have Access to Online Records Include:

• Children under the age of 16 years.  This is to satisfy the issues around child protection and age at which a child becomes ‘Gillick Competent’.
• Anyone with third party information in their records (unless the third party gives their consent for the information to be shared).  As this is a pilot project and to keep things simple, any records that include free text entries made after 1.1.2013 which involve another person will be excluded from this pilot.  An example of this would be if the notes said, “The patient is worried that Florence Capp is drinking too much alcohol”.  The patient would not be able to see this part of his records unless Florence agreed to this information being shared. Florence has identifiable information about her in the records which belong to somebody else.
• Anyone who may be harmed by accessing their records.  The general concept seems to be that most patients would benefit from being able to access their records, but this would not be suitable for every patient.  For example, if a patient tended to worry about things, then the doctor may decide that having immediate access to their records, including when the GP practice is shut, would be less advisable.
• Anyone with documented history of domestic abuse.

Consider Carefully Whether Online Access is Appropriate to You

• You may get to see a test result before the doctor who requested it has had the chance to see this or comment on it.
• If you are concerned that you may be pressurized into sharing your medical record with someone who you would not want to share it with then we recommend that you do not ask for access to your records online.
• Sometimes people start to forget about bad things that have happened to them in the past. Seeing your medical record could bring these to the front of your mind again, and could give you distress.

What You Can Do and See In Your Online Records

Patient Access allows the practice to specify what parts of the records can be seen.  Patients can view:

• Active and past medical problems
• Medication
• Vaccinations
• Blood test result
• Letters
• X-ray results
• Laboratory results.
• “Free text” notes made by clinical staff after January 1 2012.  This will enable patients to have a reasonable amount of their records to view.  We have had to limit the amount of free text entries visible as part of this pilot to make the process of reviewing the records more achievable.
• Request repeat prescriptions online
• Allergies recorded

Why Would a Patient Want To See Their Records Online? 

• A patient may want to read the letters the hospital has sent to the GP
• They can check that the GP referral letter has been sent to the hospital
• A patient can read a letter received from the hospital following an appointment
• If a patient was abroad on holiday, and needed medical help they may wish to be able to access their UK health records
• A patient may be wondering about asking the GP to prescribe a medicine that they had previously had
• Patients could view the records to check their last blood pressure reading or blood test result
• Patients are able to email questions to the practice via a secure link which creates an email to reception
• Repeat prescriptions can be requested
• Patients can follow links to websites and information leaflets to help them learn about their health conditions

How can I Get Access do my GP Records online?

If you are interested in having the higher level of access to your records then you need to complete a form which you can get from reception at either surgery.  Or you can apply by clicking the following link which will open a form you to fill in and return to either surgery:

Online records form

Once the form has been handed into reception, it will be passed onto a GP to look at.

What Happens Once I Have Requested Access To My Records?

A GP will look at your records to make sure that there are no reasons why accessing your records would be a bad idea.  Prior to the practice agreeing to turn on the online access a GP will read all free text entries made after 1.1.2012  to check that there are no references to third parties.  The further back we set the date, the more work would be involved, and we would not be able to offer this to as many patients. You will receive an email within 3 weeks to confirm you have access.  You are then free to change your password and can explore your records.  If there are reasons why the GP feels that it is not advisable for you to have immediate access to your records, then the GP will contact you to explain the reasons why.

What if I don’t understand what I am reading online?

You can either make a note of the question and message reception via the online service , or print off the relevant part of the records and bring this with you to a consultation with your GP. There are some common abbreviations that GPs use when writing in the notes. You can get some tips on understanding your record here by clicking here: (link to be inserted later ) We will develop the ‘Understanding Your Records’ page as we receive questions from patients as this project continues. The most important thing to remember is that we are not expecting you to become an expert at reading your online medical records. Please ask if you have any questions or concerns.  We are aiming to help you have a better understanding of your own health conditions, at your own pace.

You will continue to be able to access all the services that patients can access via the traditional methods, either by telephoning reception, letters, email or just calling into reception when we are open.

Please note that we are promoting online access but you have to register for this service in person, at the practice.  Once you have registered you can enjoy the convenience of being able to help manage your healthcare 24 hours a day online.

An Example of Online Records Access

An example of an online health records is available via the link below to another practice’s website.  If you follow the link below you can see a ‘test patient’ at Dr Hannan’s practice.  He has a practice population similar to that at Reedyford and currently has 2000 patients benefiting from online access to their GP records.  The page http://www.reedyfordgp.com/patient-access/ gives an overview of what other features are available with your PIN and also has links to videos explaining how to use the services available online, including booking appointments at a specific site or with a particular doctor.

Dr Hannan’s Practice is recognised as being a great example of what can be achieved when patients can access their records online. Click here to be taken to his site including a test or pretend patient record that you can look at to help you decide if this is for you. 

The Health Foundation have created a website which gives a good overview of the benefits patients may receive from having online access to their GP Records.  Click here to be taken to the site which explains why you may want to have access to your records.

The following link takes you to a site which explains how to use the different services that patient access offers:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/records/healthrecords/Pages/what_to_do.aspx

Access To Medical Records In Person

It is worthwhile remembering that everyone is entitled to access their medical records, including children, people with mental health problems and people at risk of domestic abuse. You can speak with reception to request more information about how to arrange an appointment to view your records with the practice manager if you wish.

Reedyford Health Care is pleased to be able to offer this as a service to our patients.

There is no obligation on GP practices to allow patients to access their health records online, however there are several practices around the UK which have been offering online access to their patients with good results.  We are piloting access to online records for our patients at Reedyford Health Care on an individual basis.

In 2012 the UK Government announced that they plan on making online access to health records available to all patients from 2015. They have not issued clear guidelines about how to manage the three scenarios shown below which would make it difficult to be able to offer this to all our patients. We appreciate that you may feel that these restrictions on access are less than ideal.  We may review these restrictions once we are more familiar with the practicalities of offering patients access to their records online.

We are currently accepting patients onto the online access to records service.  Please enquire with reception about access to records.

Not All Patients Can Access Their Records Online

There are a few groups of patients who we are unable to offer this service to at this time.  There are only a few reasons why people may not be allowed access.  These rules have been chosen for specific reasons and to comply with the law around patients having access to their records.  All patients have the option of asking to see their health records.  The option of being able to see your record without a member of the practice staff being present is a big advantage to having access to records online but this also presents us with some new challenges.

Patients Who Cannot Have Access to Online Records Include:

• Children under the age of 16 years.  This is to satisfy the issues around child protection and age at which a child becomes ‘Gillick Competent’.
• Anyone with third party information in their records (unless the third party gives their consent for the information to be shared).  As this is a pilot project and to keep things simple, any records that include free text entries made after 1.1.2013 which involve another person will be excluded from this pilot.  An example of this would be if the notes said, “The patient is worried that Florence Capp is drinking too much alcohol”.  The patient would not be able to see this part of his records unless Florence agreed to this information being shared. Florence has identifiable information about her in the records which belong to somebody else.
• Anyone who may be harmed by accessing their records.  The general concept seems to be that most patients would benefit from being able to access their records, but this would not be suitable for every patient.  For example, if a patient tended to worry about things, then the doctor may decide that having immediate access to their records, including when the GP practice is shut, would be less advisable.
• Anyone with documented history of domestic abuse.

Consider Carefully Whether Online Access is Appropriate to You

• You may get to see a test result before the doctor who requested it has had the chance to see this or comment on it.
• If you are concerned that you may be pressurized into sharing your medical record with someone who you would not want to share it with then we recommend that you do not ask for access to your records online.
• Sometimes people start to forget about bad things that have happened to them in the past. Seeing your medical record could bring these to the front of your mind again, and could give you distress.

What You Can Do and See In Your Online Records

Patient Access allows the practice to specify what parts of the records can be seen.  Patients can view:

• Active and past medical problems
• Medication
• Vaccinations
• Blood test result
• Letters
• X-ray results
• Laboratory results.
• “Free text” notes made by clinical staff after January 1 2012.  This will enable patients to have a reasonable amount of their records to view.  We have had to limit the amount of free text entries visible as part of this pilot to make the process of reviewing the records more achievable.
• Request repeat prescriptions online
• Allergies recorded

Please click on the following link for the freedom of information act:

FreedomOfInformationAct

AVERAGE EARNINGS CALCULATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2018

REEDYFORD HEALTH CARE GROUP

All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.

The mean earnings for GPs working in Reedyford Health Care Group in the financial year ended 31st March 2018 was £71,698 before deduction of employee’s superannuation contributions, tax and National Insurance. This is the average pay for the 3 full-time GPs and 5 part-time GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months during that year.

Life can be complicated. Especially if you are living with several long term conditions. We believe that being able to access your health records can help.

Download for more information

A-quick-overview-of-records-access-by-Dr-Stuart-Berry-Dec-2018 (3)

Health and Social Care Act 2008

Reedyford Health Care

Version 2.0

Date of Issue: 1 April 2017

Date of review: 1 April 2020

Statement of Purpose

1. Service provider

The name and address of the registered service provider is:

Drs Pearson, Chowdhury, Ashworth, Berry, Chowdhury and Chaudhary

Tel: 01282 502920

Fax: 01282 657584

www.reedyfordgp.com

The Reedyford Health Care Practice is based on 2 sites: at Nelson and at Barrowford.

We moved into a large ground floor suite in the new multimillion pound Primary Health Care Centre in Nelson in August 2005. Yarnspinners Primary Health Care Centre was built under the NHS LIFT scheme and comprises a converted Grade 11 listed canal side warehouse (Yarnspinners Wharf) with a modern extension alongside. Apart from GP practices, the development houses treatment room facilities, dental services, pulmonary rehabilitation services, chiropody and other allied health professionals. There is also ample accommodation for education and training.

Our branch surgery in the nearby village of Barrowford was purpose built in 1994 under the cost-rent scheme and extended in 2004 to include another consulting room for the training of GP registrars.

Practice Code: P81032

The regulated services are managed by the GP Providers as a partnership. The

Nominated Registered Manager for CQC registration is Dr Julia Pearson and Dr Rimon Chowdhury.

2. Our aims and objectives

1. Provide a high standard of medical care, treatment and support to our patients, their families and carers
2. Be committed to our patients’ needs
3. Act with integrity and complete confidentiality
4. Be courteous, approachable, friendly and accommodating
5. Ensure safe and effective services and environment
6. Improve as a patient centred service through decision making and communication
7. To maintain our motivated and skilled work teams
8. Through monitoring and auditing, continue to improve our healthcare services
9. Maintain high quality care through continuous learning and training
10. To guide our employees in accordance with diversity and equality
11. To ensure effective and robust information governance systems
12. To treat all patients and staff with dignity, respect and honesty.

3. Legal status

Reedyford Health Care is a Partnership. Our Partners are:

1. Dr Julia Pearson
2. Dr Francis Ashworth
3. Dr Rimon Chowdhury
4. Dr Stuart Berry
5. Dr Nabilah Chowdhury
6. Dr Irfan Chaudhary

4. Regulated Activities

The following regulated activities are provided at Reedyford Health Care as general practitioner services.

Regulated activity 1 Diagnostic and Screening Procedures

Regulated activity 2 Family Planning

Regulated activity 3 Maternity and midwifery services

Regulated activity 4 Surgical procedures

Regulated activity 5 Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Our services include:

• NHS relevant prescriptions and medications or a private prescription can be issued.
• Vaccinations & Immunisations, e.g. childhood immunisations
• Family Planning – fitting of Intra-uterine devices and the fitting and removal of contraceptive implants
• Foreign travel advice and immunisation – we are a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre
• Well person Health Checks (MOT Clinic) – general health check including weight, blood pressure, and urine assessment, smoking cessation, cervical cytology (smears) and general health advice such as breast and testicular examinations.
• Non NHS Services – Our Doctors are able to carry out medical examinations, reports and reviews e.g. HGV licence, employment medicals, driving insurance etc. as well as certain certificates e.g. private medical insurance claims, private sick notes, holiday cancellation etc.
• Smoking Cessation – Any patient who is a smoker and ready to stop smoking will be referred to an adviser.

• Asthma, Diabetic, Heart and Blood Pressure Clinics
• Mental Health Services – low mood and anxiety problems, relaxation techniques, cognitive therapy.
• Counselling – referrals can be made by the doctor to a trained counsellor when required.
• Family Planning
• Flu vaccination – we offer ‘at risk’ groups the flu vaccine at a certain time each year to protect you against the flu virus.
• Phlebotomy – for blood tests
• Midwifery – We provide post natal care. Midwifes from Burnley General Hospital and Airedale General Hospital provide care for our Nelson and Barrowford patients.
• Minor surgery – We offer a number of minor operations.
• Cervical screening – our nurses are qualified to carry out cervical screening and
• tests in the form of cervical smears.
• Sexual Health & Contraceptive Services – we a holistic approach to sexual health and contraceptive needs. Sexual health check and screening, contraceptive advice and supply, health promotion, pregnancy testing and services, support and advice for under 16s and Chlamydia screening.
• Warts and Verrucae Treatment – cryocautery service (for freezing with liquid nitrogen) for the treatment of warts, verrucae and other skin lesions.
• Dietician – weekly clinics on issues relating to food in connection with Diabetes, Overweight, Underweight and high cholesterol

The NHS in England is introducing the Summary Care Record, which will be used in emergency care.

The record will contain information about any medicines you are taking, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had to ensure those caring for you have enough information to treat you safely.

Your Summary Care Record will be available to authorised healthcare staff providing your care anywhere in England, but they will ask your permission before they look at it. This means that if you have an accident or become ill, healthcare staff treating you will have immediate access to important information about your health.

Your GP practice is supporting Summary Care Records and as a patient you have a choice:

• Yes I would like a Summary Care Record – you do not need to do anything and a Summary Care Record will be created for you.
• No I do not want a Summary Care Record – you can find a link to the opt out form below. Please complete the form and hand it to a member of the GP practice staff.

If you need more time to make your choice you should let your GP Practice know.

For more information talk to our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) (0800 032 2424), GP practice staff, visit www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk or telephone the dedicated NHS Summary Care Record Information Line on 0300 123 3020.

You can choose not to have a Summary Care Record and you can change your mind at any time by informing your GP practice.

If you do nothing we will assume that you are happy with these changes and create a Summary Care Record for you. Children under 16 will automatically have a Summary Care Record created for them unless their parent or guardian chooses to opt them out.  If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16 and feel that they are old enough to understand, then you should make this information available to them.