Statement re NHSEs Accelerating Access to Records programme 03.11.2022
21st July 2022 NHS Digital
Offering patients access to their future health information
25th October 2022 BBC Inside Health
Listen to Dr Amir Hannan talk on BBC Radio and his patients about the opportunities of giving patients access to records and understanding, why he thinks it is unsafe for patients to be granted prospective access from 1st November with no consent process and the processes at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres with Responsible Sharing. Learn more here and what the practice has done and why and lessons learned using an explicit consent, opt-in model instead that he has championed for the past 18 years.
28th October 2022 The BMA
Accelerated access to GP-held patient records guidance
Introduction
Redaction - how and what to consider
Clinical safety concerns
The legal background
Summary of options
What next?
Our guidance letter to practices including Template letter
1st November 2022 NHS England
An update from NHS England on Accelerating Citizen Access to GP Data
1st November 2022 Cambridge LMC
Cambridge LMC
2nd November 2022 Berkshire, Buckinghmashire & Oxfordshire LMCs
Urgent - 3rd Guidance Update on Patient Access to Records
Access to Records Comms 3
Actions Practices May Need to Take:
If ALL of the following apply to you, then NO ACTION is required:
1. You have risk assessed your entire patient list and applied SNOMED code “104” to any at risk patients
2. You have checked the entire medical record and all attachments of all remaining patients for any sensitive, third party, or harmful content and have suitably redacted it
3. You are content that the automatic unilateral granting of access to all such patients on your list poses no medicolegal or GDPR risk to your practice
Registered in England & Wales – Company No. 2841390
If you do NOT meet the above criteria then the LMC advises the following options are available to practices:
1. Write to the Data Processor: If you have not already done so, exercise your right as Data Controller to write to the Data Processor (the system provider) instructing them to not turn on prospective online access. This must be done before 5pm, Friday 4th November. A BMA template letter can be found at the bottom of the BMA guidance page linked here.11 Such an instruction will only guarantee no action will be taken until 30th November, and assuming NHSE/D do not decide to try to force system providers to act before that date; it is unclear what would happen after this date
2. Bulk “104”: The option remains for practices to apply the SNOMED code “104” (1364731000000104) to every patient on their list. This would prevent the automated script set to run by system providers having any effect on any patient’s record. Some practices have expressed concern that Bulk 104 may cause increased workload at a later date. However, we reassure practices on the following points:
a. As the consensus of the BMA, many LMCs, and the GMS Regs is that this service should be provided on an “opt-in” basis, a default position of the facility being disabled is safest
b. The Regs make it clear that patients “accepting” the offer and choosing to opt-in, need only be provided the service “as soon as possible” in a safe way with informed consent. No deadline can be imposed under the current contract by which practices would need to “undo” this
c. Batch SNOMED codes can be reversed in EMIS up to 7 days after they are put in place. A practice therefore may choose to “bulk undo” the code before 7 days and simply re-run it
Practices are reminded that the designated contact emails for system providers are:
EMIS: aapostpone@emishealth.com
TPP SystmOne: recordaccess@tpp-uk.com
Dr Amir Hannan, MBE, addressing the BMA-LMC conference on the Citizen Access to Records programme 24.11.2022
