Last Autumn, the practice commissioned a system to allow our patients to contact the practice via the NHS net. This allows:

We are pleased to announce that our patients are now also able to:

Access their full medical records via the same link. This includes not only details of all consultations at the practice, but also:

Scanned letters from the hospital
Pathology and x ray results
Immunisation details

Written information and advice on how to request this is available via reception. However the basics are:

You can only have access to your own records, and those of your dependent children (under 14)
You must be over 14 to request internet access.
Access needs to be set up from within the practice by one of our team. We will happily do this for you on receipt of the application form, together with appropriate proof of identification.
It is possible to have access for booking appointments, repeat medication requests and confidential notes, without activating the medical records link if you prefer.
There are additional passwords needed to access your medical records on line.
You can ask to have on-line access to your medical record switched off by us at any time.

Is extremely important. We are assured that the system we use is extremely robust – with similar safeguards and encryption to those used by major banks.
This is an 'opt in' system, and nothing will happen at all unless you specifically request it.
As a final safeguard NO MEDICAL RECORDS ARE ACCESSIBLE VIA THE NET WITHOUT AUTHORISATION FROM WITHIN THE PRACTICE.
You, however are responsible for ensuring that the passwords we issue you are kept private. You are advised to be particularly careful when storing them on your computer, using auto-fill options.
If you believe that you may have lost or inadvertently shared your passwords, your access can be temporarily suspended via a telephone call to the practice, and new ones can be issued via the system described above.

We are particularly keen for teenage patients to be confident that anything discussed in the practice will be kept confidentially. Prescriptions for contraceptives are a particularly sensitive issue for many teenagers.
Whilst we are happy to activate our on–line system for any patient, we ask that teenagers aged between 14 and 16, have a 1:1 chat with a doctor or nurse before this is done.
Unless this has taken place, we will routinely deactivate on-line access for all patients on their 14th birthday.
Requests by parents to activate the on–line system for children over 14 will be declined – we can only accept written requests from the teenager concerned.
The passwords will only be given to the teenage patient themselves.