In Wales, 64 groups of GP practices have been established and these are known as “Primary Care Clusters”.  Their job is to ensure that the health and social care needs of all of their patients are met, in the best possible way.  Within each cluster, GPs will work alongside Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists and other Allied Health Professionals, such as Physiotherapists, to share information and resources between them.  Some of the benefits of this way of working are:

• continuation of the existing patient-doctor relationship in the absence of your usual GP
• improved access to consultations across different sites
• a wider range of services

Who will be able to access my medical record and what will they use it for?

A qualified healthcare professional will be able to access your GP medical record. This will usually be for the specific problem you are presenting with, and will allow the professional assessing you to have quicker, easier access to relevant information about you.

Cluster Pharmacists may access your records when, for example, undertaking prescription reviews or answering any queries about your medication.  This is to ensure that medicines are prescribed safely, efficiently and effectively.

Other staff within the practice, such as receptionists, will also have access to your medical record to carry out tasks such as processing prescriptions, delivering test results and directing you to the most appropriate healthcare professional.

All healthcare professionals accessing your records will normally be employed by either one of the GP Practices within the cluster or by the Local Health Board. 

What information can be accessed?

Information which can be accessed, where there is a need, includes:

• personal information, such as name, date of birth, gender;
• allergies;
• medication;
• hospital admission, attendances and referral dates;
• vaccinations and immunisations;
• test results, including measurements such as blood pressure;
• diagnoses (current and post problems);
• treatment and medical procedures.

What information will be blocked from viewing?

No information will routinely be blocked from viewing unless you specifically ask for information to be hidden.  For example, it may be possible to hide particularly sensitive information such as sexually transmitted diseases, termination of pregnancy, etc. from certain individuals.  If you have any questions, please discuss this initially with your Practice Manager.

How will my information be kept secure and confidential?

Your GP medical record is stored on a secure computer system and access to it is strictly controlled.  All of the practices within the cluster, and the local health board, will have signed an agreement to confirm that they will follow the strict controls in place around the computer system itself, and around any staff who are allowed to access the system. Everyone working within the cluster has a legal, contractual and professional duty to keep information about you secure and confidential.

Can I find out who has viewed my medical record?

Every time your electronic GP medical record is accessed an audit log is created.  These audit logs are retained so if you are concerned that someone has inappropriately accessed your record, please discuss this initially with the Practice Manager.

Is there a danger someone else could hack into my record or that my information could be lost?

Contracts are in place with the supplier of the clinical computer systems to ensure that they have robust security measures installed. These measures will prevent any information from being accessed without permission, lost or accessed inappropriately by a third party.

For further information

Please see our leaflet “Primary Care Cluster; Access to your medical information” (also available on our website or from GP Reception). It explains how you can access your own health records, how you can get further information and what to do if you have any concerns about your information.

If you would like additional information you can discuss the sharing of your medical records with the Practice Manager, GP or any other member of the healthcare team.

Nicola Jones
Caritas Surgery
The Health Centre
Smithy Road
Coedpoeth
Wrexham
LL113NS