There is a Central NHS Computer System called the Emergency Care Summary (ECS). The Emergency Care Summary is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. It will contain information on your medications and allergies.

Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held securely on central NHS databases.   

As with all systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.

On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. If you don’t want an Emergency Care Summary to be made for you, tell your GP surgery. Don’t forget that if you do have an Emergency Care Summary, you will be asked if staff can look at it every time they need to. You don’t have to agree to this.

Patients 16 and over can now access their full medical record from 4th October 2024 via online services. If you have access to online services via the NHS APP or the NHS Website you should already be able to see this information. 

If you do not presently have online access and would like to set this up please contact a member of our reception team who will be happy to help. Alternatively, you can visit: https://youtu.be/6FFjGUW6s7E for a guide on how to get registered.

If you are unable to 'self-verify' using the instructions in the video please visit: https://form.jotform.com/232473261213346 to complete our application form and return to the practice with ID. We will get back to you within 2 weeks with the information you need to complete your registration.

More information can be found by visiting - Online Services

Unfortnately, at this present time patients are unable to see records pre dating the 4th of October however if this information is required patients are able to make a Subject Access Request to the surgery outlining the information they are in need of and this will be processed in line with the Access to Medical Records Act. Please contact the surgery for more information. This is also true of records for patients under 16.

The practice will continue to keep patients informed regarding any updates with online access and services available here on the practice website. 

Dr Mallard-Smith and Partners 

Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.

The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.

e.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients' control and can be shared on a 'need to know' basis.