17 November, 2007

admin staff and medical records

When you tell your doctor/consultant something, sometimes it is just between the 2 of you, but that is not always the case. It depends on what practice you go to and even between individual doctors/consultants.


For example some doctors make their own notes, while others simply tell one of the clerical staff so they can put it in your notes. That means if you were to see 2 different doctors for something, the people that know will vary. This means in some cases only the GP will know about that UTI, thrush or sexual problem, in other cases, the info will be shared. Even if they do not share it straight away, a lot of practice will allow admin staff full access to records in order to get information. For example if they wish to do a clinical audit, then admin staff will be allowed access to the clinical data where the patient can be identified or where they can guess who it belongs to. Nobody, not even NHS Grampian seems to be able to say admin staff need to know you have been raped/abused, had sexual problems, emotional problems, chest infection or a bad case of thrush. They are also not capable of saying why a receptionist needs to have access to the Emergency Care Summary

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