If you are a registered patient of the practice an online service is available to you which is offered by our clinical computer system (EMIS) to allow you to perform certain tasks online. More information about the tasks available via this service are listed below.
Patient Access
Patient Information Leaflets:
Getting Started with GP Online
Giving Another Person Access to GP Online
Giving Employed Carers Access to GP Online
Giving Carers Access to GP Online
Protecting Your Records – GP Online
Registering for Patient Access
It is not hard to start using online services. You will be offered this if you join our Practice as part of the registration processes. If you are a longstanding patient at the Practice and now wish access to your records online then you will need to complete the registration form available from a member of the Reception Team.
You will be required to attend the surgery with the completed form and evidence of:
- Your identity (eg. a passport)
- Your address (eg. a utility bill)
The Reception Team will then be able to confirm your online access. The system allows you, once registered, to use any of the following services.
Online Appointment Booking
As a registered patient of the practice you are able to View, Book and Cancel appointments from home, work or on the move – wherever you can connect to the internet. What is more, because Patient Access is a 24 hour online service you can do this in your own time day or night. Our online appointments booking facility is available for a number of GP appointments each day. If you are unable to find a suitable online appointment then please telephone the surgery in the usual way.
Repeat Prescriptions
Patients who received regular prescriptions from the practice can request a repeat prescription from the practice by logging onto the Patient Online Access system and selecting the drugs that are required. The Doctor will review the request and will either accept or decline the request and the patient is notified.
Change your Contact Details
The system allows you to change your contact details online, so the practice always has the most up to date details for you.
Medical Records
You already have access to your summary information (allergies and immunisation history). However, in addition, from 1st April you are now able to request access to your coded medical record online. Being able to see your record online might help you to manage your medical conditions. However, there are things to consider before you apply for online access to your record. This may include forgotten history in your record that you may find upsetting, abnormal results, choosing to share your information with someone, coercion to reveal details from the patient record and misunderstood information.
If you decide not to join or wish to withdraw, this is your choice and practice staff will continue to treat you in the same way as before. This decision will not affect your quality of care.
You will need to fill in a request form and provide the surgery with the neccesary personal identification to gain access to your coded Medical Records even if you have already registered for Patient Access (as above). Please be aware that immediate access to coded information will not be possible until your notes have been reviewed by a doctor.
You will be given login details, so you will need to think of a password which is unique to you. This will ensure that only you are able to access your record, unless you choose to share your details with a family member of carer.
You can choose to give another person access to your online services on your behalf and you can choose which online services you want that person to use. Before giving another person access, you should think carefully about what the benefits will be for you. If you cannot think of any, then you should think very carefully whether allowing them access is the right thing to do.
The recommended and safest way to give another person access to your online services is for them to have their own username and password. If you use online services yourself, you should not share your username and password with anyone. If you share your username and password, your surgery cannot tell whether you or someone else accessed your online services. This may be a problem if someone else misuses your login details and your surgery has to look into this.
View the steps required to give another person access:
- You contact your surgery to let them know you would like to give your chosen person access to your GP online services. You may also choose to register for online services for yourself if you do not already use them.
- Staff at your surgery will give your chosen person a short form to fill in. You will also need to sign to confirm you agree with the information on the form and attend, where possible, with the person that you would like to give access to your records, when the form is returned. You can also choose whether you only want them to book appointments or order prescriptions or use all the services on your behalf. It is up to you.
- You and your chosen person will need to show your surgery their photo ID and proof of address, for example, a passport or photo driving licence and a bank statement or council tax statement. If they don’t have the required ID, speak to staff at the surgery, who may be able to help confirm their identity in another way. A clinician at your surgery will make a decision on whether to give your chosen person access to your GP online services. If your surgery decides not to give them access, they will discuss their reasons with you.
- Your surgery staff will give your chosen person their own username and password to use to login to your GP online services.
Further information is available in the leaflet below.
Children and Young Person’s Access
Before a child develops the capacity to make an informed choice about their healthcare or who might have proxy access to their records, the usual position would be for the parents of the child to control access to their child’s record and online services.
It is difficult to say at what age the child will become competent to make autonomous decisions regarding their healthcare as between the ages of 11-16 this varies from person to person. In accordance with Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulations and Part 2, Chapter 2, paragraph 9 of the Data Protection Act 2018, from the age of 13, young people are able to provide their own consent and will be able to register for online services. The procedure for access is the same as per other patients.
People aged 16 or above are assumed to be competent to make an independent and informed decision about whether to ask for someone to have proxy access to their GP online services and record, unless there is an indication that they are not.
Approaching a Child’s 11th Birthday – the first milestone
Access to the detailed care record should be switched off automatically when the child reaches the age of 11. This avoids the possibility of:
- Sudden withdrawal of proxy access by the Practice alerting the parents to the possibility that the child or young person has been to the Practice about something that they wish to remain private, an example may be family planning advice, or
- The young person being deterred from coming to the Practice for help
Both the child and the proxy will be contacted in writing around the child’s 11th birthday to remind them that their access on behalf of their child is coming to an end. Subsequent proxy access will need to be authorised by the patient (subject to a competency test). In addition, parental proxy access may be reinstated if, after discussion with the parent(s) requesting access, the child’s GP believes that proxy access
Between the 11th and 16th Birthdays
Decisions made at the first milestone can be reconsidered and changed later. Each case must be considered individually with the best interests of the child being paramount. For example, parents with online access on behalf of children and young people with long term conditions that require regular monitoring and medication may have a good case for continued access after their 11th birthday but this must be balanced against the risks that may arise as the young person becomes competent to make their own decisions about their healthcare.
The young person may decide, once they are mature enough to act autonomously. The competent young person may decide to:
- Stop their parent’s proxy access to their online services, where the parents still have access after the 11th birthday
- Allow their parents to have access to their online services, or to allow limited proxy access to specific services, such as appointment booking or repeat prescription requests, but not to the medical records
- Request access to their online services where nobody currently has access
- Switch off all online access until such time as the young person chooses to request access
Approaching a Young Person’s 16th Birthday – the second milestone
Once a young person turns 16, the previous competence assessment by default is no longer applicable as they are assumed to have capacity unless there is an indication to the
Where parents still have access to their child’s online services when the child reaches their 16th birthday, the parents’ access should usually be withdrawn. Both the patient and the proxy will receive notification in writing that this access has been switched off.
When a young person is not competent to make a decision about access after their 16th birthday, for example, the child has a severe learning disability, and it would be in the child’s best interest for the parents to retain access, they may do so.
Parents may also continue to have proxy access with the consent of the patient after their 16th birthday. In this situation where the 16 year old is competent they will be offered the opportunity to register for online services, following the usual protocols for identity verification, as a marker of their new autonomy.
Where a person has already been given control over access to their online services before their 16th birthday, and their parents do not, there is no need to make any changes unless the young person wishes to do so.
Non-urgent advice: Is My Information Secure?
All information that is sent to your surgery via Patient Access is secure. Your personal records are encrypted and protected using the highest standard of internet security, so that it cannot be intercepted. Only you and your GP surgery are able to see this information.
Please note that the Patient Access site is not operated by the Practice. The Practice can re-issue login and password details but, if there are other difficulties, you may wish to contact Patient Access system provider direct.
Patient Choice
Giving people more choice is a priority of the modern NHS. This is because research in the UK and overseas has shown that treatments are more effective if patients choose, understand and control their care.
NHS doctors have a duty to inform patients about the options available and will advise you what they think is best. But it’s you, the patient, who must decide whether a treatment is right for you.
The Choice Framework explains when you have a legal right to choice about treatment and care in the NHS. The legal right to choice doesn’t apply to all healthcare services. However, where you do not have a legal right to choice, you should at least be offered some choices depending on what’s available locally.
The Practice currently provides a ‘Choose & Book’ service where you, the patient, can discuss and agree where you would like to be seen or receive treatment. You may like to discuss this with either your GP or one of our medical secretaries who would be more than willing to help you. Do please ask at Reception if you require help or further information.
For those patients who are being referred for adult hearing, podiatry and musculo-skeletal problems, the Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s website will provide you with the most up to date information regarding providers of and accessibility to this service.
Further information on what you can expect to see and what will not be included is available by visiting these links