Patient access to their records

This week, NHS England wrote to GPs to confirm that from 1 November 2022, patients at practices in England using TPP and EMIS systems will be granted automatic access to their prospective records via patient facing apps.

The RCGP has been engaging on this programme of work, known as Accelerating Citizen Access to GP Data, for many months. We have worked to ensure that this expansion is implemented with care, ensuring that there is sufficient time for communication and preparation so that the risks that automation may pose to vulnerable groups can be minimised. We are pleased that the implementation of automatic record access was delayed from its original go-live date of December 2021 and that our recommendation to ensure practices were given a minimum of 2 months’ notice in order to prepare for the change was accepted. While there are significant risks associated with automatic access which require careful management, there is also evidence for the benefits of patients having access to their records and the RCGP has always been clear that we support this principle.

The RCGP GP online services toolkit has been fully updated (as of 6 October 2022) to include the essential information regarding these changes in order to help practices prepare for automatic access.

Read more about this programme on the NHS Digital website.

Previous RCGP statement on this programme.

Further information

RCGP Press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editor

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.