New Shared Care Record delivering better, safer care for all our patients

We wanted to let you know that we are finally connecting our systems to offer joined-up health and care records, which will enable better, safer care and treatment for all our patients.

As a GP, it is difficult to provide joined-up care with so many separate systems for handling patient information. These were not connected, meaning that you often had to repeat your story each time you received care at a different organisation, or with a different health professional. The Shared Care Record means up-to-date records will be immediately available to professionals caring for you as a patient, when you need direct care.

It will mean, for instance, a doctor in a hospital, or a paramedic who attends a 999 call will be able to confidentially access the same crucial information that we can at the Practice, such as details of any allergies and current medications, bringing potentially life-saving benefits.

Robust security measures are in place to protect your health information and all staff must follow the law on keeping your information confidential.

The Shared Care Record is not the same as the General Practice Data for Planning and Research Directions (GPDPR), which is a national NHS Digital initiative to use GP practice data for research and planning purposes.

The Shared Care Record is a local initiative to share information with organisations directly involved in your care to ensure that you receive prompt and appropriate treatment when you need it.

For more information, please visit: https://herefordshireandworcestershireccg.nhs.uk/health-services/shared-care-record

Shared Care Record – Privacy Notice Oct 22 – Updated 6/10/2022

There are many social media platforms that are widely used by both staff and patients; these include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. At Weobley & Staunton on Wye Surgeries we have a Facebook page which provides a range of useful information for our patient population.

The Practice has a duty to maintain patient confidentiality and to safeguard vulnerable patients. You can help us achieve this by adhering to the Code of Conduct outlined in the policy below.

Social Media Patient Policy

All organisations that provide NHS or adult social care must following the Accessible Information Standards (AIS) in full from 31st July 2016.

The AIS aims to make sure that disabled people have access to information that they can understand and any communication support they might need.

The standards tells organisations how to make information accessible to the following people:

• Patients
• Service users
• Their carers and parents

This includes making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, such as:

• Large print
• Braille
• Easy read
• Via email

The AIS also tells organisations how to support people’s communication needs. As part of the AIS organisations must:

• Ask people if they have information or communication needs and find out how to meet their needs
• Record those needs in a set way
• Highlight a person’s file so it is clear that they have information or communication needs, and clearly explain how those needs should be met
• Share information about a person’s needs with other NHS and adult social care providers, when they have permission or consent to do so
• Make sure that people get information in an accessible way and communication support if they need it

We will always do our best to try and provide this information as soon as possible but in some cases this may not be an instant service and further enquiries may need to be made.

Additional information can be found by following the links below:

• Accessible Information Patient Leaflet
• Access Information Guidance – NHS England

Please view our text messaging policy here.