Author: John Cosgrove

We are often asked if we are able to access your NHS GP record. Because we are outside the NHS, we don’t automatically have access to it. However, this isn’t normally a problem: in many cases, we are happy to rely on information you provide us regarding your health conditions, medication, and allergies, and we will ask you about these before your appointment by means of our registration form.

You have the right to receive your record in electronic format from your NHS GP if you ask for it electronically (a “Subject Access Request“). If you would like, you may then share it with us, either by emailing it to Clinical@FormbyGP.net, or uploading it from our registration form. Often, a summary of your record will suffice. Sometimes, however, we will need your full record, such as if you ask ask us to write certain reports. It can sometimes be helpful to know recent blood test results, to save us duplicating work privately; if you have online access, you will often be able to view your results there.

With your consent, we will usually keep your NHS GP and any other relevant professionals updated. If you would prefer us not to, that’s generally fine too, so long as you are happy for us not to prescribe any controlled drugs. If we feel that information-sharing is particularly important, such as in particularly complex cases, we may broach the subject with you again and explain why we would recommend information-sharing.

If you have been asked for a medical report or examination, we can help! Simply tell us what you need and share the request or form that you have received using our online form and we can give you a quote.

Many such reports – such as an HGV medical “D4” – we will be happy to complete during your consultation for no extra charge. On the other hand, some might simply require us to review your GP record, and we might not even need to see you.

Please email us a copy of your NHS GP record before your consultation. For some reports (including HGV medicals), a summary of your GP record will suffice.

Some reports, however, expect the examining doctor to have access to your full GP record. For these, please download from your NHS GP your full record and then email or upload it to us.

If in doubt, just email us the blank report or form and we can advise you what we would need.

There are a small number of organisations that ask a doctor to certify that you are fit for a particular activity that they organise. At the time of writing, the Paris marathon is an example. It is very difficult for any doctor to say this, as there is no way for them to be certain that the organisers will have in place proper safeguards, not is it possible to predict that your health will not change before or during the event. We would be happy, however, to provide a summary of your medical history and an opinion as to whether that is likely to be problematic.

We can organise many tests directly, and as GPs we can diagnose and manage a great many conditions ourselves.

Sometimes, we will offer to make a referral asking another professional or organisation whom we trust for their opinion using the specialised resources and expertise at their disposal.

If you have any concerns about your health, do book an appointment with one of our expert GPs. We will undertake our own assessement, collect any information and tests necessary to support any referral, and advise whether a referral would be appropriate.

We will advise you which specialty, organisation or individual we believe is most likely to accept the referral and to give the most helpful opinion. This is the reason why patients, specialists and insurers value the input of GPs in the referral process.

We will of course facilitate your preferences as best we can, mindful that this might sometimes result in “going round in circles” if the preferred specialist is either not available, too busy, or feels they cannot help.

If you have a fixed view about the need for a particular referral, we may be able to add less value to the process. You might like to contact the specialist directly, as some do accept self-referrals.

In any case, when we make a referral, we will usually let you have a copy of the referral letter. This will put you in control, so that you can produce it in case of communication difficulties, and so that you can take it to a different, similarly qualified, individual or organisation, should you subsequently discover that they are more convenient. Feel free to search for other providers yourself. If you happen to know of any specialists who live nearby, you might like to suggest they consider using our premises!

If we make an NHS referral, you will very often be able to take that referral letter to a private provider. Please be mindful that it does not always work the other way around, as it can sometimes be more difficult to refer to NHS providers: they are often not even allowed to accept referrals which some might consider less appropriate; they also often expect the GP to undertake more preliminary assessment, the expense of which we would otherwise seek to save you.

The NHS has a waiting list tracker tool called “My Planned Care”: this means you can see how long you are likely to be waiting for your first outpatient appointment, and for your treatment/surgery, if you have been referred to an NHS hospital. The waiting list figures are grouped by department, so it’s not an exact guide, and for urgent problems you are likely to be seen more quickly than these figures, while for less urgent issues you may be waiting longer.

Here are the figures for the Trust that includes Aintree Hospital, and here are the figures for the Trust which includes Southport & Ormskirk.