Online access to health records

From 31.10.23 all patients will automatically have access to their medical records via the NHS app and other online portals.

The NHS wants to give people better ways to see their personal health information online. We know that people want to be able to access their health records. It can help you see test results faster. It also lets you read and review notes from your appointments in your own time.
We’re now letting you see all the information within your health record automatically. If you are over 16 and have an online account, such as through the NHS App, NHS website, or another online primary care service, you will now be able to see all future notes and health records from your GP. Some people can already access this feature, this won’t change for you.

This means that you will be able to see notes from your appointments, as well as test results and any letters that are saved on your records. This only applies to records from your doctor (GP), not from hospitals or other specialists. You will only be able to see information from when you register at the Practice. For most people, access will be automatic, and you won’t need to do anything.

Your doctor (GP) may talk to you to discuss test results before you are able to see some of your information on the app. Your doctor (GP) may also talk to you before your full records access is given to make sure that having access is of benefit to you. There might be some sensitive information on your record, so you should talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

These changes only apply to people with online accounts. If you do not want an online account, you can still access your health records by requesting this information through reception. The changes also only apply to personal information about you. If you are a carer and would like to see information about someone you care for, speak to reception staff.

The NHS App, website and other online services are all very secure, so no one is able to access your information except you. You’ll need to make sure you protect your login details. Don’t share your password with anyone as they will then have access to your personal information.

If you do not want to see your health record, or if you would like more information about these changes, please speak to our reception staff.

For more information, please click here

Paper health records or access to full historic records

Sometimes you might wish to have access to your historic notes, and there are several ways to do this. It usually takes some time to provide these as the practice must read through the notes to ensure that any third party or harmful data is not released. We are happy to explain this process when you contact us. This process can be quite laborious for the practice and reduces the amount of clinical time GPs have to see and treat other patients. For this reason we ask wherever possible that you consider requesting specific information rather than your entire past medical records:

Specific information

You may require some particular information for example related to certain dates or condition. It is usually much quicker for us to provide this information for you. Please contact our reception team to discuss.

Access to your full record

We can provide access to your full electronic notes or all paper notes which were used before GP digital records began to be used (before approximately 2000). Please contact our reception team to discuss.