Access to Your Medical Record

Your medical record contains notes taken during every consultation you have had with a doctor or nurse at your practice or community service. Your record is also likely to include copies of any letters you have written and notes relating to any phone calls made with the service that you have been in contact with. Your record will also contain copies of letters from other hospitals and departments, including mental health assessments if you have ever had one. The time period covered by your electronic medical record can vary from one GP practice to another, but detailed information extending right the way back into your childhood may be included. All of this information is sometimes known as "Your Detailed Care Record."

Terms Used in this section

Data Controller - This is the controller of the data and the system, as defined in the Data Protection Act. In this case the Controller is the Partnership.

Data Subject - This is the person whose information is within the system, and who has rights of access as determined under the Act.

Third Party - A person or body other than the Data Subject who requests access, or to whom information may be provided.

1) Online Access to your Medical Records

We are able to grant you access to many parts of your medical record online. Please click here for more information.

2) Paper Copies of your Medical Records (Subject Access Requests)

The General Data Protection Regulations specify the rights of access of the Data Subject.

To request a paper copy of your medical records please click here to submit an admin request.

A response will be provided as soon as possible, and in any event within 28 days. Where an application is declined, a reason will be given. In some circumstances, some parts of your record may be withheld.

It will help us to produce your medical records more quickly if you are able to specify in your message the period of time that you wish view and the reason that you are asking for access.

All members of our Practice Team have access to your medical record to the level that is required for them to perform their job role. In addition to this there are a number of different NHS schemes involving the sharing of medical records and we have included information on these, including how you may opt out, below.

What is a Summary Care Record? (also know as an SCR)

Your basic Summary Care Record is a short summary of your GP medical record that includes a list of medications you are taking and your allergies or bad reactions to medicines.

Version 2 (Enhanced Summary Care Record) includes all of the above PLUS additional information that can include information about the management of any Long Term Conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Conditions etc, your relevant medical history including why you take a particular medicine or any clinical procedure you have had, any specific communication needs or preferences about your future care and a list of your Immunisations.

You will already have a basic SCR unless you opted out but you will need to give specific consent for an SCR version 2. If you would like to give consent for the additional information to be added to your SCR please contact our reception team.

Your SCR can be viewed by other health and care staff who care for you when you are away from home. This can speed up your care and make sure you are given the correct treatment and medication. The healthcare staff will have been given the right levels of security access will always ask your permission to look at your SCR (except in an emergency, where you are unconscious for example).

When an SCR would be useful:

• in an emergency
• when you're on holiday
• when your surgery is closed
• at out-patient clinics
• when you visit a pharmacy

Who would benefit from an SCR with additional information?

• Frail patients who can give consent to out of hours or emergency health care staff, making unwanted admission less likely
• Patients with physical or other disabilities who will benefit from recording any specific communication or health needs
• Patients with carers whose details they want to share
• Non-English speakers
• Patients planning for end of life who can share information about Lasting Power of Attorney or advance care decisions

Enhanced Summary Care Record Patient Video

The EDSM is designed to make it easier for patients to have greater control over their own records. By recording two different sharing consents in the patient record, 'sharing in' and 'sharing out', the decision not to share sits with the patient. 'Sharing out' controls the information recorded at the practice that is shared to other organisations. 'Sharing in' controls the information that can be viewed by the practice that has been recorded at another SystmOne organisation. The model works on a patient-by-patient basis, which means that if you move to a different area, you will remain on the EDSM model.

At this practice your GP records are made available for other health care professionals involved in your care to access. We feel this is in your best interest. Please be assured that no one outside of this practice will access your records without your verbal consent each time you are seen.

If you do not wish this to happen then it is important that you let us know by telephone, in writing, by clicking here or by logging in to your SystmOnline account by clicking here so that we can mark it on your record.

What is risk stratification?

There are two kinds of risk stratification:

The first kind is a process for identifying some patients within a Practice who might benefit from extra assessment or support with self-care because of the nature of their health problems. The process is a mixture of analysis of information by computer followed by review of the results by a clinical team at the Practice.

The analysis can, for example, help predict the risk of an unplanned hospital admission so that preventative measures can be taken as early as possible to try and avoid it. In the end, it is the clinical team of the GP Practice that will decide how your care is best managed.

The second kind is a process for identifying patterns of ill health and needs across our local population. This will be done by pulling together all the information in an anonymised file (where your identity has been removed) to look at patterns and trends of illness across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland as a whole. This will help our Public Health Department and those in the NHS who are responsible for planning and arranging health services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (known as commissioners) better understand the current and possible future health needs of the local population. This will help them make provision for the most appropriate health services for the people of this area. This group of staff will not be able to identify you as an individual under any circumstances.

In both cases secure NHS systems and processes will protect your health information and patient confidentiality at all times.

What information about me will be analysed?

The minimum amount of information about you will be used. The information included is:

• Age
• Gender
• GP Practice and Hospital attendances and admissions
• Medications prescribed
• Medical conditions (in code form) and other things that may affect your health such as height, weight for example.

How will my information be kept secure and confidential?

Information from your GP record will be sent via a secure computer connection to a special location called a 'safe haven' at NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden & GEM CSU) in Leicester This safe haven carries special accreditation from the NHS. It is designed to protect the confidentiality of your information. There are strict controls in place. It enables information to be used in a way that does not identify you. The GP Practice remains in control your information at all times.

Before any analysis starts, any information that could identify you will be removed and replaced by a number. The analysis is done by computer. The results are returned to the GP Practice. Only your GP Practice can see the results in a way that identifies you.

What will my GP Practice do with the analysis?

The results can help the clinical team decide on some aspects of your future care. For example, if the clinical team at the Practice think that you might benefit from a review of your care, they can arrange this. You may then be invited in for an appointment to discuss your health and treatment. If the Practice thinks you might benefit from referral to a new service, this will be discussed with you firstly.

What should I do if I have further questions about risk stratification?

Please ask the Practice staff if you can speak to someone in more detail.

What if I want to opt out?

If you do not wish this to happen then it is important that you let us know by telephone, in writing or by clicking here so that we can mark it on your record.

How the NHS uses your patient data from GP practices to improve health and care Patient Video

The data held in your GP medical records is shared with other healthcare professionals for the purposes of your individual care. It is also shared with other organisations to support health and care planning and research.

If you do not want your personally identifiable patient data to be shared outside of your GP practice for purposes except your own care, you can register an opt-out with your GP practice. This is known as a Type 1 Opt-out.

Type 1 Opt-outs may be discontinued in the future. If this happens then they may be turned into a National Data Opt-out. Your GP practice will tell you if this is going to happen and if you need to do anything. More information about the National Data Opt-out is here: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

You can use this form to:

• register a Type 1 Opt-out, for yourself or for a dependent (if you are the parent or legal guardian of the patient) (to Opt-out)
• withdraw an existing Type 1 Opt-out, for yourself or a dependent (if you are the parent or legal guardian of the patient) if you have changed your preference (Opt-in)

This decision will not affect individual care and you can change your choice at any time, using this form.

Please click here to register a Type 1 opt out with the Practice.

All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act).

More information about this requirement is contained in the data provision notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.

You can learn more about how NHS Digital uses your data here: General Practice Data for Planning and Research: GP Practice Privacy Notice - NHS Digital

The OpenSAFELY COVID-19 research service provides a secure analytics service that supports COVID-19 research, COVID-19 clinical audit, COVID-19 service evaluation and COVID-19 health surveillance purposes.

Under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 NHS England has been directed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to establish and operate the OpenSAFELY service. While each GP practice remains the data controller of its own patient data, they are required under the provisions of s259 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to provide access to de-identified (pseudonymised) patient data through the OpenSAFELY service.

The service enables individuals (academics, analysts and data scientists) approved by NHS England to run queries on pseudonymised GP and NHS England patient data which is held within the GP system suppliers' data environments. Controls are in place to ensure that individuals only have access to aggregated outputs from the service (i.e. they cannot access information that either directly or indirectly identifies individuals).