Sharing Your GP Record
Caring by sharing – supporting your healthcare at all times
Many people think their GP Record is available to all healthcare professionals involved in their care; but this is not generally the case. It is very common that each healthcare professional you see keeps a separate electronic record about you. This can mean important information may not be communicated between health services as well as it could be.
From time to time it is therefore helpful for us to be able to share information about your health and care requirements with other health organisations that are providing you with direct healthcare. Across Nottinghamshire we are introducing a local GP Record sharing model which will allow us to make relevant medical information from your GP Record available to other healthcare professionals at the point of need when they are providing care for you. However you will be asked for consent at the point of contact for your GP information to be viewed by a care professional outside your GP practice.
You will always be asked for your explicit consent before healthcare professional accesses your GP Record. If you say “No” the care professional will not be able to see your medical information. However there may be exceptional/emergency situations (e.g. if you were unconscious) where a health professional may access your GP record if deemed in your best interests to provide care.
Examples of organisation that may access your GP health information include Out of Hours Teams, Walk in Centres, Hospitals /A&E Departments and Community Healthcare Teams.
Making your GP record available in this way is designed to ensure that the healthcare professionals looking after you have the most relevant up to date information to enable them to provide you with the most appropriate care. It may also mean that you won’t have unnecessary tests, have to repeat information or be given drugs that you may be allergic to for example.
If you wish to only make certain parts of your GP record available and not all of it then you can ask for sections of your GP Record to be marked as ‘Private’. Private information will never be shared unless it is required by law or you give permission.
Please be assured your personal and sensitive health information will be kept confidential and secure at all times and only be used for your direct care purposes.
We would encourage everyone to make their GP Record available in case they need to be seen in an emergency or Out of Hours. If you have certain health conditions or go to hospital a lot then you should definitely make your record available.
To read more on information and why we share information, click here
To view a leaflet with more information on sharing your GP record click here
To view our GDPR patient privacy notice click here Patient Privacy Notice January 2020
To view our COVID-19 Privacy Notice click here
COVID-19 Privacy Notice