Online Access to Clinical Record

If you would like to have access to SystmOnline, please complete our Register for Online Services form.

Patients, aged 18 or over, may request access to their full clinical record online. Your GP may decline access if it is believed not to be appropriate.

For patients aged 14 to 17 years old you will need to apply in your own right or grant written consent for your father and/or mother to have access. The request will be reviewed by your GP and may be declined access if it is believed not to be appropriate.

The detailed coded record contains coded information including allergies and medication. This record is updated automatically. The record may include the names of administration staff that have accessed the patient record in fulfilment of their duties.

Being able to see your record online might help you to manage your medical conditions. It also means that you can even access it from anywhere in the world should you require medical treatment on holiday. If you decide not to join or wish to withdraw, this is your choice and practice staff will continue to treat you in the same way as before. This decision will not affect the quality of your care.

The practice has the right to remove online access to services. This is rarely necessary but may be the best option if you do not use them responsibly or if there is evidence that access may be harmful to you. This may occur if someone else is forcing you to give them access to your record or if the record may contain something that may be upsetting or harmful to you. The practice will explain the reason for withdrawing access to you and will re-instate access as quickly as possible.

It will be your responsibility to keep your login details and password safe and secure.  If you know or suspect that your record has been accessed by someone that you have not agreed should see it, then you should change your password immediately.

If you can’t do this for some reason, we recommend that you contact the practice so that they can remove online access until you are able to reset your password.

If you print out any information from your record, it is also your responsibility to keep this secure. If you are at all worried about keeping printed copies safe, we recommend that you do not make copies at all.

The information that you can see online may be misleading if you rely on it alone to complete insurance, employment or legal reports or forms.

Be careful that nobody can see your records on screen and be especially careful if you use a public computer (not recommended) to shut down the browser and switch off the computer after you have finished.

Before you apply for online access to your record, there are some other things to consider.

Forgotten History

There may be something you have forgotten about in your record that you might find upsetting.

Abnormal Results or Bad News

If your GP has given you access to test results or letters, you may see something that you find upsetting. This may occur before you have spoken to your doctor or while the surgery is closed and you cannot contact them.

Misunderstood Information

Your medical record is designed to be used by clinical professionals to ensure that you receive the best possible care. Some of the information within your medical record may be highly technical, written by specialists and not easily understood. If you require further clarification, please contact the surgery for a clearer explanation.

Information Added By Non Clinicians

Information will have been added to your medical record by administrative staff employed by the practice.

Such information could be when your notes from your previous practice have been summarised and entered onto our computer system; when we receive documents from other health providers that contain data suitable for coding; and other information we require to have in your record to support clinicians in providing healthcare to you.

Some information will have been added by other clinical staff who may not be employed by the surgery, for example community midwives and nurses.  In some cases, medical records will have been transferred electronically this will form the basis of your clinical record.