Seeing an NHS consultant surgeon tomorrow - will he have access to all my NHS records?

[FarFlungKit]

Just that really. This is all within the NHS.

Obviously he or she will have the referral letter/history.

But would they also be able to access ALL my general NHS medical records online?

I’m not saying they would necessarily read them or want to read them.

But is it available to them, should they choose to peruse?

Anyone know for sure?

Many thanks in advance.

My experience a couple of weeks ago was that the consultant only had the referral letter from my GP. Not helpful as I have had numerous tests which would ave been useful to have the results for rather than relying on my recall going back 30 years!

Only if its your usual hospital trust. Also I don't think they can access your gp records. I wouldn't worry they won't read more then the referral, I'd be impressed if they even read that and don't ask you why your there the moment you walk through the door or worse when they say if I'd read the referral before you came I wouldn't of accepted it.

I wouldn't worry they won't read more then the referral, I'd be impressed if they even read that

🍸🍹😆

However it is my local hospital trust, so am curious as to what the consultant can “read” online about me.

He'll only have access to the letter and anything in that hospital (sometimes there is join up with other hospitals sometimes there isn't)

However no way on earth will they read ALL your records, nobody has the time or inclination.

Depending what sort of surgery you are going for they may read nothing at all if it isn't relevant to their body part.

Depends on the IT system. We use records in our hospital that about 2/3 of the GP practices locally use, so if the "share" option is on, we can view all of the GP records (it usually is)
The other practices use a different IT system, and we can only see limited information.

They will have access to your whole record for that hospital.

Depending on where you are, they may or may not have access to other local care records if you haven’t opted out (I can see letters from other local hospitals, and GP problem lists, medication lists and blood test results - not your GP consultations).

They won’t be able to see stuff that happened in Birmingham if you are now in Basingstoke. They won’t be able to see psych notes or community services (eg community diabetes clinic) letters (these are held separately).

They are unlikely to have trawled through the local care record unless they have good reason to - if the referral letter says you were seen for the same condition by the hospital up the road, they might look at the previous letters. They will not be reading up about your psych admission, or haemorrhoid surgery, or A&E attendances while drunk, and if they spot something embarrassing they won’t care or bring it up.

Nope. The Trust I have most of my hospital appointments has started using Epic and somebody on high probably believed that it would go on to make everything seamless. No way - the migration of past records, past test results, past communications is near enough impossible just from their own system onto Epic, never mind the last 20/30/40+ years of locally hosted PAS/SAM/whatever the new GP blood test system in our area is called (bet it cost loads and was described as 'bespoke' - it's a tarted up version of Microsoft Access)/etc/etc/etc.

There might be some records accessible if yours is still using the same system as has been used in your area for years. And the consultant is confident and quick in knowing how to search for things. But only 'might'.

I think it depends on the system

I recently had an appointment a different nhs trust consultant could access lots of details we were talking about the system and as I mentioned it was different to one I worked with and he said it was new and far better but he was getting the hang of it

Somebody will have read the referral! I often think similar, I have a higher bar for acceptance than some of my colleagues (I often just give the GP advice in minor cases). That doesn’t mean it was an inappropriate referral though, just that I personally wouldn’t have accepted it.

The bottom part of this post sounds like my medical records 🙈and I have multiple consultants some iv been under for years and none of them have a clue

Thanks everyone. It does seem still a little vague.

I am not suggesting my surgeon would WANT to read all my GP / NHS notes. Far from it. It not be relevant, as some pointed out.

HOWEVER, my question is more along the lines - if they CHOSE to, COULD they? I hope that makes sense.

I write out anything relevant beforehand, so I have a summary in front of me. Some places have taken a photocopy to keep!
Write out regular meds incl the dose, mg etc, any allergies and the reaction, any herbal/alternative therapies, alcohol/cig/drugs as applicable, past medical history including surgeries and the dates/place these took place. Procedures you've had done- colonoscopy etc.

We still use paper records in our hospital so for a consultant appt your main hospital notes will have been sent to clinic. So they could read the lot if so inclined.

Depends upon the hospital. I’m a doctor. He can likely see your records from that trust and maybe your referral letter. You won’t believe what won’t come across. I’m a medical doctor so not a surgeon but see patients in clinic. He should have access to your GP records if you’re local. If you’re coming from 50 miles away for a specialist surgery then he probably won’t.

If you have a complex medical history bring your letters with you. The nhs need to tell patients this, it’s not widely known. I work in a big city with multiple hospitals and can’t see anyone’s notes who isn’t at my big hospital unless things have been sent across and scanned in.

NHS IT infrastructure is appalling. Never assume it will be there.

As a doctor myself it’s very helpful when patients do this. Especially if typed. And great if you know which consultant you were under.

What kind of thing are you referring to op? Is it something you don't want them knowing?

@Shiningout Not specifically. It’s more a general “confidentiality” thing. If that makes sense.

I am simply “wondering”, can the surgeon have access to all my GP notes and records? Simple question in a way. The hospital is 10 miles from my surgery if that makes any difference.

I don’t specifically mind that the surgeon has immediate access to ALL my records; I would just like to know whether they can.

@Medstudent12 I work in healthcare too 😉

He is a specialist NHS surgeon btw.

If you have the nhs app you can see what of your medical records are on there - so for mine I have everything for the past decade in my current location but nothing before that in my previous city as that was paper records. I have kept paper records of things that seem relevant - eg a PCOS diagnosis in my twenties, if it seemed relevant I'd take them in and ask for them to be scanned in and added to my notes.

My nhs app shows some random things from the paper records - eg a diphtheria vaccination from 2003, but it isn't a complete vaccination record

I would assume that the surgeon would only have access to your hospital records in his department - since your referral .

Will read referral letter
Current meds
Medical hx summary list from GP which would be sent with referral letter or is available to the hospital trust- literally the list eg
10.12.22 hypertension
4.9.2016 cholecystectomy

that sort of list- salient points only

wont have time or wish to look at any more!

yes if they chose to
they certainly could

you have been referred to them. They may wish to look up and read to get a clear picture of history

Weirdly, there's no easy answer to this. On an A&E visit recently the doctor there asked for consent to look at my GP record - so he could obviously access it. However, the same hospital can't access patient records for the practice I work at.

The answer is .... it depends

Depends on the hospital IT system and the GP system and whether they are integrated. Some are. Some aren't

Edited to add: summary care record which has things like med allergies, current med conditions should be available to them if they have your nhs number