Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01426

To:

• General practices

cc.

• Integrated care boards:
  • chief executive officers
  • chief operating officers
  • digital directors
  • heads of primary care
  • heads of commissioning
• NHS England regions:
  • regional directors
  • digital directors
  • primary care medical directors

Dear GPs and practice managers,

Update record

I am writing to clarify information you may have received about the enhancement to GP Connect Update Record. It is inaccurate to suggest that there are any imminent changes being made to stop GPs switching off GP Connect functionality if they choose to. GP IT suppliers are not removing the opt-out button.

In April we published an update on the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. This shared that over the coming months, information to update the patient record after a Pharmacy First, Blood Pressure or Contraception Service consultation would start to surface directly into practice workflows, rather than being sent to practices via NHS Mail. We have designed the system with GPs, in consultation with both the BMA and RCGP, to increase clinical safety and make practice lives easier.

This new Update Record functionality is a significant enhancement to existing processes. Instead of having to manually reconcile information from NHS Mail into the patient record, practices can see the consultation outcomes and any medications issued directly in their workflow, where they can check before accepting, using one-click. As more community pharmacy suppliers roll out this new functionality, practices will see more messages arrive in this way. Practices are already providing positive feedback on the new approach.

Update Record is not used to send any clinically urgent, safeguarding or time-sensitive information. Pharmacy colleagues will continue to use their existing methods to contact practices in these situations.

Every practice has a choice of how to configure their GP IT system. Practices can choose to take advantage of this new enhancement or choose to manually transcribe from email messages. Neither choice has any impact on GP’s responsibilities as data controllers. There is no plan currently to extend this functionality beyond Pharmacy First, Blood Pressure or Contraception Service consultation messages. Any changes would always involve consultation with the BMA and RCGP.

I recognise how hard general practice and GPs are working to deal with an unprecedented demand for appointments in challenging circumstances. This enhancement is just one of a range of clinically safe improvements NHS England is making with suppliers, to better help practices manage demand and capacity and continue to provide high quality care.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, NHS England