Another change is coming, another testing time for general practice. By April 2020, patients are to be given online access to their complete health care records – that’s seven months from now! Whilst in the first instance this will undoubtedly increase the pressure across the sector and create additional workload for practice teams, could it…

One thread writer recently asked for help figuring out why three lots of records had been received for patients with the same family name, but with the same NHS number. My answer was to check the date of birth shown on all the documents. I recall one specific case where three male members of one…

What do we need? Clarification! When do we need it? Now! You may recall from part one of this blog that I’d emailed the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) asking for clarification as to what’s deemed excessive and what’s considered a reasonable fee. Well, I’m still waiting for them to reply, but the automated response did…

Everyone was talking about it and then the day arrived – Friday 25th May, ‘GDPR day’ or perhaps ‘regulation day’; let’s not forget that the Data Protection Act 2018 was also introduced on the very same day! There was no grandiose introduction; suddenly a subject that had generated so much hype and debate seemed to pass…

Most elements of the world we live in would be unrecognisable to someone from even 20 years ago. People now have phones in their pockets that contain more processing power than the computers used for the Apollo landings; we have almost instant access to nearly all the books written, songs recorded and works of art…

Medical records. They’re a vital ingredient in the provision of medical care, but what happens when they’re provided in a foreign language? This issue came to the fore for a Practice Index Forum contributor recently. They posted: “We have a new patient who has recently returned from overseas. They have a complex history and have…

Are we dealing with ‘ghosts’? Don’t you wish you could grab hold of someone at Capita and throttle them?! Records are not arriving and now payments not being made. As an ex-FPC manager, I could be proud of the work we did to keep general practice running. The staff were knowledgeable and helpful, and whilst…