Just realised my GP online records has more back up evidence than I thought

Dear fellow members and moderators,

In case it can help someone, your online record with your GP surgery which you can access by first registering and then logging in has so many resources ( I go to Appointments and log in in that section for log in ‘ for online services’) and then I have access to my medical records.
Without a GP letter about 3 years ago, just with this evidence I even got an increase of my disability premium and without Benefits and Work guides and this forum I would never have had that increase!

The online patient record includes internal records which are of great value because normally those are not sent to me the patient but for instance to the surgery, to MSK physiotherapy, it could be notes the physiotherapist writes on his computer ( that you may see write but do not know what it is as it is not addressed to you which I later found out were comments about the way I walked for instance, the inability to do some exercises, the fact I was discharged because they could not help me anymore).


I believe they are of great value because they are not designed to be seen by the patient, so if they say things that back up what you say for PIP or ESA, they may even be of greater value than a letter one may pay his GP to do.

I am not putting down the GP letter to use as support for esa or pip as I paid my previous GP on many occasions to do so,
and because I was with him for so many years,
because I always saw him most of the time at the surgery lets say 9 times out of 10,
because he saw that when I first registered with him I was in perfect health
and then over the years my health started deteriorating
and I was diagnosed with some disabling health conditions which deteriorated over time
that letter was a great asset.
Then his letter would say that I was deteriorating in all the years he had known me at his surgery.

All these to provide back up medical evidence as ESA and PIP ask for proof.

However when I moved and changed GP, in that surgery all the GP kept changing and none knew me.
When I asked my free medical records which I got for free (about 400 pages) I was asked by the receptionist why and I replied it was for ESA or PIP I cannot quite recall.

The receptionist told me the GP could write me a letter and I would be charged.
But after discussing it with him, I realised and told him I would think about it, and decided against it after I got all my medical records.

I decided against it because basically without knowing me, the GP at my surgery, would write a summary of the conditions they can see on my account.

I thought it was too risky as with the previous GP I could go back and discuss that letter with him, I could explain to him how I was affected by my health conditions in a way fitting the esa or pip criteria which was true, and if I saw something I thought could be detrimental or interpreted the wrong way against me I would ask the GP to remove the word or sentence if he did not want to change it.

What did I find out on my online patient record?
- first I go to Appointments and log in at “ Login for Online Services”
- then at the top we see:
Appointments (book, future and past)
Medication
Records
And there is much more for one to find out…

In records, the Summary Patient Record lists:
- all the Allergies and Sensitivities with their start date.
- Acute Medication issued in the last 12 months
- Current Repeat Medication
- Past Repeat Medication, discontinued in the last 6 months,( well in my record)

In Records we can select Patient Record:
and select dates, we can go back years!!!!!

Everything is noted, I even saw mistakes in my record.

You will also see some little icons like a paper clip ( A & E letter for instance in my case),
An envelope icon ( a copy of the letter sent to me to my home address)

Again the same icon for an internal document to MSK Healthshare, and what did I see today in that document that triggered me to write to you, to help you if it can:

It is a referral document commenting on the face to face examination with my GP, who examined me, who says I was in pain and is referring to MSK.

But further down it gets interesting it lists My Past Medical History:
With the Start date of each condition (problem) and the severity next to each condition in my case Major. I found things very helpful to me to use for a later date.

It also lists the Acute Medication, Repeat Medication, Allergies and Sensitivities, and also it looks like a summary of all my Pathology results going back many many years and radiology results in the last 3 months.

My record also shows if I click on the icons, A&E letter addressed to my GP, my CT scan, Xray, MRI’S, Physiotherapist reports (very useful as they comment on the way I walk, internal MSK referrals. There are so many internal documents out there.


In case one is not happy with their ESA or PIP result maybe they can find something in their patient online account, like an A&E letter, an internal document like the one mentioned above addressed by GP to MSK that would contradict the assessor decision that you are not entitled to esa or pip or that you should be on the lesser criteria.

When we click on these icon, ie those documents, one can view them or download them. You can print them to use at a future date and put them in a file, and you can send them to the books (orange) app if you have a apple ipad, I do not not if you have that option in an other ipad.

Even when we speak to a receptionist it is noted but not everytime I call.
When they get your results back a GP could write for instance that they recommend you speak to a GP about the result.

If we go to Record Audit:
We can see the name of every person including ourselves who accesses our online record, and which part of it, the date and the time.
But it looks like at my end we can only go back 2 years.

I hope all the information above will be helpful to someone.
Best wishes

Mine only goes back from when I opened my online account, also it doesn’t allow me to see everything. I’d like to query it with them, & some of the things they got wrong, but fear they may stop me looking altogether. I always check & print off anything that’s useful. It’s certainly a lot better than asking for your entire medical history, & having to sift through that lot in one go.

Hi are you registered for the NHS app as well? If not if you register for the NHS app the records on there are normally more comprehensive and go back decades in summary form. Primary Care Support England ( PCSE) have been undertaking the digitisation of hard copies of notes for some time now. The old big brown envelopes that contain your written records called the Lloyd George envelopes as they were introduced in 1911 under his government and have barely changed in 100+ years are all being digitised. Digitisation of Lloyd George records is complete in many areas and therefore a practice that is fully digital can send off all these notes to PCSE and free up space. I believe they can be destroyed if the digital copy is fully transcribed.

The problem that often occurs though is large sections of the old notes the ink has faded or the notes are torn and therefore you get a date but then perhaps it just says record unreadable. My Current practice uses system One software and I can see back to the 1970’s with summarised data from these old Lloyd George notes. The NHS app also has this information and is easier to search and copy so I use that if I need to print off anything. The problem that can arise if you change Dr’s and they use a different software management system they might not be compatible with your old surgery. The new surgery will get either the old Lloyd George file or a copy printed out form your old GP surgery system but it can be a long wait for them to then transcribe these notes onto the system at your new GP. Don’t worry about asking re notes your have a right in law to access notes. Although a GP and or health care professionals can withhold data if they think it would be very detrimental to your well-being to be informed. Which is a bit vague and hardly ever used. This might be something like a patient has cancer and it’s terminal. They tell the Dr that they don’t want to know anything about prognosis etc and they should just tell their wife/husband partner and not them. In a case like that The GP has the consent of the patient to withhold information from them that could be detrimental to their wellbeing or mental health like saying they had 4 weeks to live etc.

Regards,

Kit.

If you go to

pcse.england.nhs.uk/

That is the page for the part of NHS resources responsible for digitisation. Scroll down the page and there is a section Medical Records click on that and there is lots of information about the access process etc. Also seems like they can transfer GP notes between systems now it’s called GP2GP. Although I’ve heard from former health care colleagues that it is full of bugs in reality.

Thank you Kit,
No I am not registered with the NHS app, it is the first time I heard of it.
I will have to look into this.
Anything that helps is welcome.
Best wishes
VIA