Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to GP practices in England on giving patients access to copies of their records.

Practices are contractually obliged to provide full prospective record access to all patients, for those aged 16 years old and above, unless exceptions apply or if the patient has informed the practice that they do not, or no longer, wish to have access.

Since 2022, functionality and supporting guidance was successfully tested with early adopter general practice (GP) sites, and was rolled out nationwide to give all patients access to new health record entries online. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/guidance-on-nhs-app-features/online-access-to-gp-health-records/what-general-practice-staff-should-know/prospective-record-access-manually-enabling-patient-access#:~:text=Practices%20are%20contractually%20obliged%20to,longer%2C%20wish%20to%20have%20access.

In addition, NHS England worked with GPs and GP IT suppliers on the steps to take to restrict access to health records for vulnerable patients. NHS England has also provided guidance on its website on how anyone can request access to their GP record, using an online account such as the NHS App.