You have the right to request electronic access to your GP medical record.

There are currently three options if access is required:

Prospectice access - i.e. what is added from the date this is turned on;

Detailed coded access - from a certain date, which can be historical;

Full medical records access - from a set date which can also be historical.

When requesting access patients MUST understand that it is THEIR responsibility to keep their information safe and secure.

There are pros and cons to this:

PROs:

• You can see test results done by the surgery faster with no need to phone the GP;
• You can read and review notes from your appointments in your own time;
• If you need to share medical evidence for any reason, you can access this yourself and share what you feel is appropriate.

CONs:

• Test results and letters are placed on your medical records and your GP may not have had the opportunity to review and counsel you before you can see it;
• GP requested results, when viewed online, will automatically be marked by the clinical system as "patient informed" when there has been no other contact with the surgery;
• We are under an obligation to ensure we protect third parties who might be mentioned in your records as it could breach their rights to confidentiality. We therefore require time to process your records prior to giving you access.

Please consider these points prior to requesting access as it is not right for everyone.

'I am writing to congratulate you and your practice team on your excellent performance in this year's patient survey.

As you may know you are in the top ten in the county for overall patient experience.

That's a tremendous achievement in such challenging times and testament to your hard work.

Thank you very much and congratulations.’

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey!

(Oct 2023)

The National Grid says that power cuts this winter are unlikely but possible. Derbyshire County Council and Ofgem advise that vulnerable residents including people with a disability/long term condition, elderly and frail and women who are pregnant or parents with young children should sign up to their Priority Services Register.
This can be done by going to the following link: https://www.nationalgrid.co.uk/customers-and-community/priority-services/priority-services-register

More information is available here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/get-help-your-supplier-priority-services-register

The Charity Warmer Derby and Derbyshire can also offer advice on keeping warm this winter: https://mea.org.uk/

At present, health and social care organisations in Derbyshire hold different sets of records about you. Information in different records may be duplicated or incomplete. The Derbyshire Shared Care Record is a new confidential computer record that will join up different records to create a more comprehensive and up-to-date record about you. Over time this will help improve the care you receive.

Click here for more information

Click here to opt out

Due to a change in IT direction by NHS England we will no longer able to provide the "MyGP" app from April 1st and we apologise for any inconvenience.

You can continue to use an app similar to this and there are two options:

 'Airmid' - which has been developed by TPP SystmOnline, who are our clinicial system providers and are used by hundreds of GP surgeries across the country. You will be able to securely log in with your current SystmOnline username and password.  Try the new Airmid app now!

OR

Owned and run by the NHS, the NHS App is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.

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You will have no doubt seen reports in the national press about changes to general practice appointments and access. Unfortunately these reports have misrepresented the current state of general practice and proposed changes and we, as the representative body of Derbyshire general practice, would like to clarify things.

General practice in Derbyshire has been open throughout the pandemic; providing patient care whilst delivering the largest scale vaccination programme in history. Our teams have followed NHS England protocols; moving overnight to use virtual consultations and triage. They have safely opened up more services as national guidance and the intensity of the pandemic allowed. During the entire pandemic, clinicians have continued to see patients face-to-face when clinically needed; always making sure that infection control and social distancing measures were in place to protect patients and staff alike.

The latest GP appointment figures in England showed that practices delivered almost 5 million more appointments in March than they did the month before, and nearly 3 million more than they did in the same month two years ago, long before the onset of the pandemic. Simply put general practice is working flat out. With this increasing patient demand, general practice will continue to work smartly to get the balance right; consulting with patients in the most appropriate fashion in as timely a manner as is possible. This means, as per the practice contract with NHS England, that it is for the surgery to determine the manner in which it sees its patients. Only by doing this can we ensure quality care is maintained for the many, rather than servicing the demands of the few.

We know it is hard to get an appointment right now. But the above figures explain that this reflects the large number of patients requesting care, not lack of activity within general practice. We are hearing increasing reports of frustration and abuse targeted at practice staff because of delays, and we are concerned that the recent media reporting will worsen this by fuelling inappropriate requests for face-to-face appointments that are not needed and cannot safely be accommodated. We would ask you all to treat each member of the practice team with respect and understanding; we will continue to support our practices and help them to take a zero tolerance approach to any forms of abuse.

We thank you for your patience and continuing to work with your surgery.

Despite numerous logistical challenges, Chesterfield and Dronfield Primary Care Network have led an approach that has meant that all care home residents in our area will have been vaccinated over the 4 days from 30^th December to 2^nd January.

It seemed an ambitious target, given we were only advised by NHSE of the vaccine supply on the 23^rd December and the order placed on the 24^th. The PCN team recognised the importance of vaccinating the most vulnerable patients in care homes and those that care for them. Staff gave up their holidays and by the end of bank holiday Monday, they had formulated a military style plan to vaccinate all the homes in the area (both residents and staff). Julie Chaplin, Practice Manager at Stubley Health Centre was the Lead Co-ordinator, but she would be the first to say , “ it was a team effort”, including support from the care homes. They even planned, for standby health care staff ready to mobilise to care homes in minutes, to make use of spare vaccines, so as not to waste any. It was a real system effort from Joined Up Care Derbyshire (JUCD), with Chesterfield Royal Hospital urgently stepping in twice, within hours, to supply the teams and assist with vaccines. The 4 teams consisted of staff from the PCN, Derbyshire Health United and Derbyshire Community Health Services.

The biggest ‘shout out’ goes to the PCN Clinical Pharmacists, a team that was not even in place at the beginning of the year and their lead Isobel Bancroft. Without them, this would not have been possible to pull off.

Clinical Director Dr PJ Flann commented, “I am immensely proud of the whole team, the commitment and hard work that they have put in.  A year ago we would not have even had the staff to do this. The 11 practices that form the PCN and their patients have really seen the benefit of a Primary Care Network, working with JUCD and the CCG.”

January 2021