The last version of the guidelines, The Good Practice Guidelines for GP electronic patient records – version 4 (GPGv4), was published in 2011 by the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC).  These revised Guidelines (GPGv5) have been updated in accordance with a review and recommendations provided by Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

Each topic within GPGv5 has been written by a team with a primary care background including GPs, Practice Nurses and Practice Managers, and reviewed by subject matter experts across the NHS, selected according to the content of each topic.

Scope

GPGv5 is aimed at all those working with digital services in General Practice in England.  The guidelines do not replace existing guidance or resources, but instead show how this external guidance applies to General Practice and fits into everyday practice.

GPGv5 topics vary in both length and detail depending on the topic.  New and developing topics in General Practice, for example Genomics, are presented more as an introduction, whereas other, established topics, contain more practical detail.

GPGv5 content

Topics can be selected via the navigation side panel and are presented under nine themes.  The aim is for these Guidelines to be a dynamic library with content added and updated as necessary.  Each topic shows the latest version date, and all old versions of the topics will be archived.

Topics were produced during the merger between NHS England, NHS Digital and Health Education England in 2023.  As a result, some topics will refer to both NHS Digital and Health Education England. These references will be revised in the future as part of the scheduled reviews and when its clear how the respective websites will be managed.

If you wish to provide feedback on these guidelines, please email england.dpc.goodpracticeguidelines@nhs.net