Getting Ready for Online Patient Record Access
From November 2022 the way online record access is granted is changing
NHS Digital are implementing national changes to the way patients access their online record, potentially coming in November 2022 for both SystmOne and EMIS GP Practices.
This was previously going to happen in the Summer but has been postponed.
Hopefully you’ve already seen plenty of information around this, and maybe attended one of the NHS Digital awareness sessions running throughout 2022 – follow this link to book onto any current events:
https://www.events.england.nhs.uk/getting-ready-for-all-patients-to-have-access-to-their-future-data
Here in the NECS Clinical System training team we have also provided awareness sessions – which ran the first week of March, for practices to attend, and we have added a live recording of one of those sessions to this website, along with the PowerPoint presentation used, and a quick user guide on online visibility. You can access these from both our SystmOne and EMIS Group pages in the training videos section.
In this awareness session we talk about:
- Important Terms
- GMS Contract
- What changes are coming to online patient record access
- What general practices will need to think about
- How setting up SystmOne and EMIS online record access will change
- What are the changes for new registrations
- How to redact or hide data from records in SystmOne and EMIS
- Useful Contacts and Links
The video is about 30 minutes long, and will cover all of these subjects including how to hide or redact data from both SystmOne and EMIS.
At the moment, there is still some information to be released, like a definitive date – we also suspect there will be more clinical system updates from both providers. So make sure you keep an eye on clinical system postings, updates and notices around this subject.
If you have any questions around this update you want to raise with NHS Digital, here is their contact email: england.NHSXimplementation@nhs.net
Here are a few commonly asked questions
Will Proxy Access be affected?
No – this update will only be for patients viewing their own record. The practice still controls proxy access through their clinical system.
Are there any age restrictions?
Yes – only patients over 16 years old will have access to their full record online. If they are under 16, they have to have a gillick competency code in their record.
How will previous online record access be affected?
If the patient previously had detailed coded record access, this will automatically be upgraded to full – but only prospective. If the patient had detailed historic access this will stay the same.
Will shared records be visible to patients?
No – only the GP record will be visible. Only entries added in the GP medical record are viewable online.
Will tasks be visible online?
No tasks will be visible.
How can you prevent sensitive documents from being viewable immediately online?
We are hoping there may be significant clinical system updates in this area soon, but currently documents are not viewable online until they are filed. After they are filed you must hide the entry from online. Please see our SystmOne and EMIS guides on online visibility for more help with this.
When you mark something as hidden from online, is it the whole consultation/entry or just one part?
In SystmOne, currently, when you hide something from online, the whole event is hidden. In EMIS you can hide a whole consultation from online, or you can hide individual codes or items by using the care history screen.
How can you stop a patient from viewing their test results online?
We are hoping there may significant updates to the clinical systems to help with this soon. Currently, if the result is not completely filed, it will not be visible online, in both systems. Once it has been filed, if you do not want it to be visible online, it will need to be hidden. Please see our SystmOne and EMIS guides on online visibility for more help with hiding entries.
Do we have to review the whole record for every patient prior to this update in April?
No. This update will only affect the prospective/future record. So, nothing saved prior to that date in the patient’s records will be visible. If the patient already had historic record access, that will not change, but those records will have already been reviewed
Useful links to find out more information:
NHS Digital:
https://www.events.england.nhs.uk/getting-ready-for-all-patients-to-have-access-to-their-future-data
RCGP Toolkit (to be updated in 2022):
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12893
GMS Contract: