Patient Online Services

[Mr Pointy]

My local GP practice has made direct access difficult & is now trying to get everyone to register for Online Services. To this end they have sent a list of providers from which they want me to select one to sign up with:

Patient Access https://www.patientaccess.com
Evergreen Life https://e-life.co.uk/
Co-op Health https://www.coop.co.uk/myhealth
myGP https://www.ilovemygp.com/
digi.me https://digi.me/nhs
Echo Pharmacy https://echo.co.uk/signup
AT Tech https://dr-iq.com/
Pharmacy2U Ltd https://im1.pharmacy2u.co.uk
Medloop https://medloop.co/uk-app/
Boots UK https://boots.com/nhs
My Way Digital Health https://patient.diabetesmyway.nhs.uk/register/
C Sharp Solutions https://patally.co.uk/
Patients Know Best https://patientsknowbest.com/gp
Redwood Technologies https://portal.practiceplus.co.uk
Healthera Ltd https://healthera.co.uk
Doctorlink https://www.doctorlink.com/patients/
Digital Medical Supply UK LTD https://kry.se/api/im1-service/
Nurturey - the digital Redbook https://www.nurturey.com

Needless to say the practice won't recommend any particular provider or take any responsibility if there are any issues.

Who are these companies? Is any of them more reliable & secure than the others? What is the risk to my medical data ending up in the wrong hands?

[Scrump]

Here is a similar question I asked a couple of years ago:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Patient Access seemed to be the PH preferred choice at that time.

I did register but never used the service as the NHS app now gives me all the remote access and repeat prescription options I need.

[Mr Pointy]

Thanks for the response but this doesn't seem to be for just getting repeat prescriptions it also needed for booking appointments & it seems I will have access to my medical records as well. I'd like to know a bit more about where my information is going before I sign up.

I had a similar argument with my dentist who wanted all sorts of medical information submitting to a third party organisation they had outsourced record keeping to. I pointed out that the privacy policy expressly gave them the right to sell all patient data as a company asset should they go bust & allowed any subcontractor they engaged to have access to patient data. Of course no subbie has ever left a USB stick or CD on a train before now.

[PositronicRay]

I use patient access, I didn't know there was choice.

I find it does everything I need.

[tjl]

Patient Access works ok for me.

[bigpriest]

Some of those providers look like prescription-only services, others such as Patient Access allow you to book appointments, have video consultations, view parts of your medical record etc. They've given you lots of choice but that isn't always helpful. I'd go for one that does everything in one place - as Patient Access has been suggested, this should mean your GP practice is using EMIS as their clinical system and Patient Access is an EMIS solution so I'd be inclined to use that.

[Mr Pointy]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Maybe they were trying to tell me something by putting Patient Access at the top of the list so it looks like I'll go with them. I'd still llike to know how secure patient data is.

[tjl]

I think it’s pretty secure. I had to put in a 12 digit password or something crazy like that.

[Mr Pointy]

tjl said:

I think it’s pretty secure. I had to put in a 12 digit password or something crazy like that.

That's not really what I'm talking about though. As I said before one outfit wanted me to agree that patient data could be issued to any subcontractors they engaged with no indication of whether the subcontractors were subject to the same internal security standards as the company itself.

[bigpriest]

Your practice data is not stored at the practice, it's on a server in a datacentre somewhere so you're already trusting the practice and EMIS (if they are the practice's supplier) to manage the security of your data.

It's not as if the Government have extracted GP data and tried to give it to Insurance Companies in the past.

[DocJock]

Another happy Patient Access customer here.

[C70GT]

Our surgery uses Patient Access. Both the missus and I use it without any issues. We were not given a choice just told this is how to access the services on a self help basis.

[Riley Blue]

bigpriest said:

Your practice data is not stored at the practice, it's on a server in a datacentre somewhere so you're already trusting the practice and EMIS (if they are the practice's supplier) to manage the security of your data.

Provided they're not still in Lloyd George files...

[Mr Pointy]

Well that wasn't very reassuring sign up process to Patient Access. The Register page asks you to create a password:

"Your new password must be at least 12 characters long with a mix of numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters and should not have been previously used"

So I get Lastpass to generate a 12 character password with numbers, uppercase & lowercase letters & get the following error message back:

"One of the following symbols must be used: *! # $ % £ . - ? @ _ | ^ ~ : "

What an excellent piece of coding there. If they can't get the most basic user interface right heavens knows how what is going on in the back end.

[solo2]

I signed up with Patient Access and I made the mistake of looking at my medical history. I knew it would say fibromyalgia but it also said Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. No one had told me that but it certainly explains why I really struggle to stay awake and can be in bed for 12 hours still feeling exhausted.

In hindsight I wish I hadn't signed up because previously I would just battle on but now I feel like I have an excuse to be exhausted all the time and let it often get the better of me. Sorry OP, I sort of wandered off topic there.

[V8covin]

solo2 said:

I signed up with Patient Access and I made the mistake of looking at my medical history. I knew it would say fibromyalgia but it also said Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. No one had told me that but it certainly explains why I really struggle to stay awake and can be in bed for 12 hours still feeling exhausted.

In hindsight I wish I hadn't signed up because previously I would just battle on but now I feel like I have an excuse to be exhausted all the time and let it often get the better of me. Sorry OP, I sort of wandered off topic there.

When I signed up to Patient Access I discovered I'd had an incident at birth that no one had told me about,nothing serious mind but still it would have been nice to have known.
I've recently signed up to Well Pharmacy to get my meds delivered.Woeful service so far, they're blaming my GP surgery,surgery been no help, all the while I'm running low on tablets