Online Services

Last Updated: Wednesday, 22 November 2023

If you are already registered for Patient Access, please follow this link which will direct you to their website. If you are not already registered, or you are wanting to view your COVID-19 vaccination status, please see the information below.

Over 3000 of our patients already enjoy the ease and simplicity of accessing their medical record online for booking appointments and ordering medication. 

With the New NHS App it is even easier to get on-line and you don’t need to bring ID documents to the surgery as this can now all be done remotely via the app. You can also use this app to view and share your COVID-19 vaccination status.

From April 1st 2016 all patients, if they wish, can have access to their detailed coded medical record on-line. 

There are many reasons why a patient might want to have this level of access; self-management of long term conditions or to show to a doctor if you fall ill while away from your home. 

However, it’s not without its risks either. If your log on credentials are compromised then someone else might be able to gain access to very personal information about you. 

We have produced a patient information leaflet that explains more about online access and you can pick up a copy from reception when you next visit the surgery or read it here.

At Ainsdale Medical Centre we are helping our patients to make the right choice around online access so you get the access that best suits your needs. We will be offering two different levels of service. 

  1. Transactional Services – Book appointments, order repeat medication, view or share your COVID-19 vaccination status or update your personal details if you change address or phone number. We strongly recommend that all patients with on-line access use this service for their convenience.

          

  1. Access to detailed coded record. All elements of the care record apart from letters (inbound and outbound correspondence).

What do we mean when we refer to ‘coded’ record?

`Coded form‘ means that you can see the standard codes (in words not in coded numbers) added to your record to identify things such as diagnoses, conditions, symptoms, test results, treatments, demographic information about you and administration flags that help us manage your healthcare. You won't see any of the free-text added by the clinician during a consultation but you will see any comments the doctor adds to your test results to help you or our receptionists interpret the detailed statistical results.

What do I do next?

There are now several platforms available to patients for using the online services. The NHS app is a new service provided by the NHS which allows users to register to use the online services without coming in to the surgery to register. More information about the NHS app can be found here.

If you do wish to use one of the other services, you will need to complete the following steps:

  • Read the information leaflet and decide what level of access suits your needs. 
  • Download the NHS app and register for an NHS login.
  • If you require full record access, contact the surgery who will send out further instructions and the registration form.

When will my access be ‘live’?

If you apply for transactional services, your user permissions will be updated ‘there-and-then’ and as soon as you log on you will be able to use the online services in the way you have requested. 

If however you are applying for full detailed coded access then it works slightly differently. 

Under their contract with the NHS the doctors at Ainsdale Medical Centre are required to provide the facility for a patient to access information which is held in coded form unless, in the reasonable opinion of the GP, access to such information would not be in the patient’s best interests because it is likely to cause serious harm to:

  • The patient’s physical or mental health or the physical or mental health of any other person OR
  • The information includes a reference to any third party who has not consented to its disclosure

Therefore if a patient applies for full detailed coded record access then your GP will need to review your entire medical record which can obviously cover many many years. The doctors will naturally have to prioritise patient care and therefore we are advising patients that it could take as long as six to eight weeks to process these applications. 

If you are a new user of the online services applying for full detailed coded access then we will give you Summary Care record access straight away so you can benefit from the convenience of booking appointments, viewing and sharing your COVID-19 vaccination status and ordering repeat medication. When the GP Has reviewed your record we will simply add the extra permissions and you will see them next time you log on. If the doctor, under their contractual duty, decides to decline your application then we will send you a letter to let you know.