Here are some updated searches GP practices may wish to run, if they are not yet live with prospective online medical record access for patients.

For those practices that are live, these searches will show an overview of what coding you have within your patient list.

Ramadan is a special time for Muslims around the world where they harness the spiritual month of fasting to reflect and be mindful of their health as we fast during this holy month. Here are some resources for you, your organisation and your patients.

The 2023/24 GP contract which has been imposed upon the profession required that practices provide automatic prospective access to GP-held patient records by 31 October 2023.

The BMA provided comprehensive guidance BMA general practitioners committee England that supported the process and encouraged practices to carry our a Data Protection Impact Assessment to explore risks and mitigations.
There has also been an open letter to the profession explaining this more. Click to download and read.

Several practices, having carried out a DPIA, do not feel that there are sufficient mitigating factors for automatic prospective access and are reviewing alternative options.

Prospective access to patient medical records is still planned to go live in November although there are still discussions ongoing within NHS England and the BMA have also recently provided further guidance around a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) that all GP practices should carry out before the 31st October 2023. There have also been additional safeguarding concerns that have come to light that GP practices need to be mindful of.

There are several changes in the imposed GP contract which have changed the goalposts for online access to medical records.

Some advice and suggestions are provided here for NHS GP practices to:
– Download searches and review 104 and 106 codes
– Download an AccuRx Florey for patients prior to having access to medical record
– Implement Practice and Patient Processes
– Let other NHS GP practices know of changes

With the ongoing debate around prospective access to patient records, we have looked at an improved offer for our local patients across the North East London ICS region. This is as an alternative to the automatic prospective access that NHSE have proposed and are asking practices to sign up to.

We are encouraging all our patients to interact with NHS services through the NHS App as this will also allow patients to:

Ramadan is a special time for Muslims around the world where they harness the spiritual month of fasting to reflect and be mindful of their health as we fast during this holy month. Here are some resources for you, your organisation and your patients.

And now for something completely different!!
As patients of mine approach the month of fasting in Ramadan, I often get asked about foods that will help satiety over the day and ensure fasting is as comfortable as possible. These energy meal recipes can be used for maintaining satiety and energy outside of fasting as well as for those fasting in Ramadan or any time throughout the year.

With ongoing discussions on prospective online access, I have put together some EMIS Web searches that may be helpful for practices to consider.