The online services, such as Patient Access and The NHS App, helps you to be more in control of your health. Through it you can view your medical record, manage appointments, order prescriptions and even manage any hospital referrals we make. In the future the Great North Care Record and many hospital records will also be viewable, so long as you register through the North Easts preferred app, the NHS App.

This is obviously very confidential information, so we will need to check your identity (for simple prescription and appointment management, and from April 2022 access to new information in your record, the NHSApp registration sorts this).

There are a few times when we won't grant access: for example if we are concerned about potential coercion and for young people aged 11-15. For children under 11, parents can register for so-called "proxy" access; from 16, young people can get access for themselves. However, for young people aged 11 - 15, we would want to chat about what is the right sort of access to protect young people's right to confidentiality.

Currently, patients who sign up to the NHSApp are given access to manage prescriptions and GP appointments. From 1st November 2022, NHS England is extending this to offer automatic prospective access.

Prospective access means being able to see hospital letters, notes from consultations with the GPs and results entered into the GP record after 1st November 2022. Access to GP record entries prior to 1st November 2022 will still need to be requested from the practice for patients who would find this helpful.

There are a small number of people who won't be able to have automatic access to future record entries. This may be because the NHSApp could not adequately verify their identity. It could also be because there is potentially sensitive code or diagnosis on the medical record (what is sensitive to one person may not be to another, but a computer who doesn't know the patient can't tell the difference). In most cases access will still be given to the record but it will need to be granted by the practice through the current route rather than automatically. 

For more information and for guides on how to use the NHSApp, please see the NHSApp help website.

The best way to access our services is to download the NHSApp from the Apple App Store, Google Play or Microsoft App Store.

To use the NHS App you must be aged 13 or over and registered with a GP surgery in England. Find out more about who can use the NHS App.

Use the NHS App to:

• get your NHS COVID Pass – view and download your COVID Pass for places in England and Wales using this service, or for travel abroad
• get advice about coronavirus – get information about coronavirus and find out what to do if you think you have it
• order repeat prescriptions - see your available medicines, request a new repeat prescription and choose a pharmacy for your prescriptions to be sent to
• book appointments - search for, book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery, and see details of your upcoming and past appointments
• get health advice - search trusted NHS information and advice on hundreds of conditions and treatments. You can also answer questions to get instant advice or medical help near you
• view your health record - securely access your GP health record, to see information like your allergies and your current and past medicines. If your GP has given you access to your detailed medical record, you can also see information like test results and details of your consultations
• register your organ donation decision - choose to donate some or all of your organs and check your registered decision
• find out how the NHS uses your data - choose if data from your health records is shared for research and planning
• Access the Great North Care Record (coming later in 2022 -for more info see https://www.greatnorthcarerecord.org.uk/ )

For more details of how to send us an online consultation, see our dedicated econsult page: https://www.glenparkmedicalcentre.co.uk/econsult