Patient Online – prepare now for next year’s contractual deadline
As you know, promoting the use of online appointment booking and online repeat prescription ordering are contractual requirements for Patient Online. These are routinely offered to patients in London.
From 1 April 2016 practices are expected to fulfil the current contractual requirement to provide online access to GP records for those patients who request it. Online access will be extended from the current access to repeat prescriptions, allergies and adverse reactions to access to all coded data within a patient’s record. The inclusion of free text is not a contractual requirement but may be useful in certain circumstances (explaining test results out of range for example).
EMIS and TPP’s latest releases now provide the functionality to support the contractual requirements. It is expected that INPS and Microtest releases will be available in time to allow practices to meet these obligations. Practices will not be expected to fulfil this contractual requirement if they do not have access to computer systems and software which would enable them to offer the online services.
A statement from the Patient on Line team confirms:
“GPSoC has assured the Detailed Coded Record elements from the Framework Requirements in EMIS Release 5.5 to 5.8 (available now) and TPP Release MR 116 (planned release to be available from 9 Dec 2015) for clinical safety, information governance and functionality. These elements have been confirmed by NHS England to meet the GMS contractual requirements for 2015/16.
HSCIC and NHS England are continuing to work with INPS and Microtest to secure timely delivery of system functionality for access to detailed coded records.”
You will need time and help to understand the practicalities and the implications of this. Currently NHS England’s (NHSE) Patient Online programme is providing support to practices to understand and deliver these commitments. Support for London is provided by Implementation Lead, Richard Ince, and Digital Clinical Champion, east London GP, Dr Phil Koczan.
It is a good idea to contact your system provider now to find out more information on how to deliver online access to patient records in a safe and consistent way.
NHS England are currently hosting additional webinar sessions to provide advice on how you can benefit from providing online services to patients. The webinars are interactive and provide an opportunity to ask questions, learn from other practices and find out how to access support locally. Visit the NHS England website for further information.
There is also a contractual requirement for practices to issue a statement of intent in relation to these new services. This should be done as soon as possible.
If you have any queries, or would like to discuss Patient Online in more detail, please contact Richard Ince at richard.ince@nhs.net.
Further information is also available by clicking on the following links:
Last updated : 17 Feb 2016What they said about the GP Essential Toolkit conference (05 Jul 2017)
Our first Essential Toolkit for GPs on Tuesday 4 July, 2017 was a huge success. See some of the top tweets from speakers and attendees below: ...GP volunteers needed for Grenfell Tower residents (22 Jun 2017)
Over the last few days we have seen a fantastic response to the Grenfell Tower fire from London GPs and practice teams, working in very difficult circumstances both practically and...Londonwide LMCs' June 2017 newsletter (21 Jun 2017)
...May 2017 workforce survey – thank you for responding (20 Jun 2017)
Our latest workforce survey closed on Tuesday 20 June, we received over 750 responses, representing over 550 practices. Thank you to those who took the time to provide us with...HR in general practice: recruitment and selection (16 Jun 2017)
Londonwide LMCs recently ran a recruitment and selection workshop for GPs and practice management colleagues. The day was full of lively discussion as delegates considered all aspects of the recruitment...Guest blog: Engaged patients boost your practice (16 Jun 2017)
This week (w/c 19 June) is patient participation awareness week. East London GP and LMC member Dr Naomi Beer tells us about the benefits of patient engagement and how it...General election 2017 – Summary of London results (15 Jun 2017)
Election night ended with a hung parliament and in London those boroughs represented by Londonwide LMCs saw Labour gain three seats from the Conservatives, Kensington, Battersea and Enfield Southgate. The...Fire at Grenfell Tower - assisting with relief work (15 Jun 2017)
Following on from the tragic events in Kensington yesterday morning, Londonwide LMCs is here to support you and your practice staff at this difficult time. Please remember look out for...CQC plans changes to inspection regime (15 Jun 2017)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched a consultation on proposals to change the general practice inspection regime to include practices providing annual written evidence on how they intend...Obituary: Dr Chris Jowett 19 August 1952 – 27 May 2017 (14 Jun 2017)
Last month we lost Dr Chris Jowett, the treasurer of our board, former vice-chair of Hillingdon LMC and a prolific advocate for London general practice for over three decades. This...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.
follow us on...
