New contractual requirements require that GP practices should make available a statement of intent in relation to the following IT developments:

• Referral Management
• Electronic Appointment Booking
• Online Booking of repeat prescriptions
• Summary Care Record
• GP2GP transfers
• Patient Access to records

Referral management

West Street Surgery will ensure that the NHS Number as the primary identifier in all NHS clinical correspondence will be used.

Electronic appointment booking

Practices are required to promote and offer the facility for all patients, who wish to, to book, view, amend, cancel and print appointments online. If you have not got online access and wish to register please complete our Register for Online Services form.

Online booking of repeat prescriptions

Practices are required to promote and offer the facility for all patients, who wish to, to order online, view and print a list of their repeat prescriptions for necessary drugs, medicines or appliances.

Visit our Prescriptions and Medicines Centre where you will be able to Request Medication Online and Register for Electronic Prescribing. You will also be able to view a list of local pharmacies.

Summary care records

The Summary Care Record (SCR) an electronic record which contains information about the medicines you take, allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines you have had.

Having your Summary Care Record available will help anyone treating you without your full medical record.

Only healthcare staff involved in your care can see your Summary Care Record. They will have access to information about any medication you may be taking and any drugs that you have a recorded allergy or sensitivity to.

For further information visit the NHS website.

If you do not want your medical records to be available in this way then you will need to let us know so that we can update your record.  You can do this via the Summary Care Opt Out form.

GP2GP record transfers

There is a contractual requirement to utilise the GP2GP facility for the transfer of patient records between practices, when a patient registers or de-registers. It is very important that you are registered with a doctor at all times.

If you leave your GP and register with a new GP, your medical records will be removed from your previous doctor and forwarded on to your new GP via NHS England.  It can take several weeks for your paper records to reach your new surgery.  With GP to GP record transfers, your electronic record is transferred to your new practice much quicker.

The practice confirms that GP2GP transfers are already active and we send and receive patient records via this system.

Patient access to their GP record

Practices are required to promote and offer the facility for patients to view online, export or print any summary of information from their records relating to medications, allergies, adverse reactions and any other items/date such as ‘additional’ record elements which has been agreed between the contractor and the patient.

The practice has made available to patients (who have online access) the ability to view their records relating to medication, allergies, adverse reactions and immunisations.