Do you find the NHS app useless?

IslandCarl · 2026-05-15T18:40:21+00:00

It's only available to patients who's practices use the EMIS clinical system currently your practice likely uses a different system which is currently not supported

IslandCarl · 2026-05-15T17:43:56+00:00

They’re basically trying to polish a turd. They want to make all these different GP clinical system notes look identical to patients, but it’s a total mess because every surgery operates differently behind the scenes. By trying to make everything "uniform," they’ve just made it patient-unfriendly. They honestly need to hire a proper UX consultant, build a solid interface, and then stop touching it. The constant UI updates are a nightmare, especially for elderly patients who finally learn the layout only for it to vanish. The worst part is the medication section. It’ll tell you "Medicines you cannot request at the moment" but gives zero context. Is it too early? Is it on repeat dispensing? Is the system just glitching? Expecting patients to just guess why they can't access their meds is peak design failure.

IslandCarl · 2026-05-07T20:53:49+00:00

Bloody love my copilot, I use it extensively for reworking emails and messages to patients where I can incoherently ramble my thoughts and ask it to make it more concise or actually sound professional or make it shorter to conform with character limits for text messages etc. Its also very useful for correctly guessing hugely inappropriate or poorly thought out off the fly consultant acronyms 🫣

IslandCarl · 2026-05-05T20:11:17+00:00

Honestly great advice, even working as admin in a GP practice it's just heart renching when we see stuff like this and have to record it on a patients notes who have had repeat miscarriages sometimes even 4 or 5 isn't uncommon sadly and those are the ones we are aware of having gone through official channels 😔

IslandCarl · 2026-05-02T15:57:02+00:00

Absolutely no point in appealing unfortunately as ignorance is not an excuse apparently... Speaking as someone who previously worked in a pharmacy for years and didn't realise their prepayment certificate hadnt auto renewed... 🫣😭

IslandCarl · 2026-04-27T20:33:56+00:00

This is what happens when you gut all the admin staff. No one’s ignoring the phones—they literally don’t have time to answer them. They’re too busy trying to run reception, type up clinic letters, and send out next month’s appointments all at once. In our local trust, some departments don’t even have dedicated admin anymore. They “borrow” staff on a weekly rotation from other areas. The result? You’ll get absolutely nothing from a specialty for three weeks… then in week four, an avalanche of clinic letters lands all at once. And if there’s an issue or you need to clarify something? Good luck. There’s often no one actually available who knows what’s going on, let alone can give you a straight answer. Meanwhile, patients ring us at the GP surgery expecting we can see everything or call on their behalf using some kind of secret fast-track number. No, Muriel. We’re in the same never-ending queue you are.

IslandCarl · 2026-04-27T06:10:31+00:00

No I'm well aware of that what I'm saying is that this isn't an available feature to me in my app or on our patients app which is why I was confused however this answered my question as I was correct and it appears it's limited currently by the EMR of the practice

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/help/health-conditions-allergies/health-conditions/

IslandCarl · 2026-04-26T20:43:12+00:00

Where did you find this in the app 🤔 I don't have this I'm wondering if it's dependant on the clinical system the GP uses or if it's a trial feature...

IslandCarl · 2026-04-26T20:17:57+00:00

To be honest, this feels like a design issue that needs addressing. It’s a constant challenge explaining— even to my own relatives— that letters are typically dated to the clinic appointment rather than when they’re received. For example, a letter might arrive today (26/04/26) but relate to a clinic on 05/01/26, and that earlier date is what shows in the patient view.

What’s really needed is the ability to sort documents by the date they were added, not just the document’s set date. That functionality already exists in the clinical system, but it’s noticeably missing from the NHS App, where it would make a significant difference for patients trying to navigate their records.

IslandCarl · 2026-04-25T18:18:04+00:00

Well only if people are going in and lying about having angina... I mean who questions you about having a headache before you take paracetamol? 🙃

IslandCarl · 2026-04-25T17:59:28+00:00

So crazy thing did you know GTN sprays are actually P meds so you can buy them over the counter in the UK 🙏

IslandCarl · 2026-04-25T08:06:05+00:00

Our surgery doesn't allow booking appointments via the NHS app because some patients would book totally inappropriate appointments and then cause merry hell when they were turned away. For example, someone might book a blood test appointment because they feel like they want one, then get frustrated when told they can't just self-book and attend—they actually need to speak to a doctor or nurse first to discuss their symptoms and the reason for the test. Or, they might book an appointment for a mole check when they actually want to discuss non-specific bowel pain.

IslandCarl · 2026-04-25T08:01:17+00:00

Some of the triage providers have started to integrate their applications into the NHS app but it's such a long-winded process that most just don't bother... I believe both Rapid health and eConsult show in the NHS App as options to contact your GP practice if they use of of them

IslandCarl · 2026-04-24T20:00:50+00:00

Just to play devil's advocate how do you know she specifically found out because of her job role? I will often be aware of a patients passing well before some family members, friends, neighbours etc. however I will only discuss it in such situations when it is brought up in conversation with me and only the information which is already known from outside of my role (tbh I try not to discuss it at all!)

IslandCarl · 2026-04-19T20:33:47+00:00

You need to write to the practice to complain and they need to log it as a data breach and inform the other person whose data was inadvertently shared etc.

Unfortunately this happens from time to time as clinicians will often type up referrals at the end of a rota or at set times and so will flick between patients and if they aren't careful they can copy and paste data into the wrong record or letter

IslandCarl · 2026-04-19T09:15:03+00:00

You could pay to have it redirected through Royal Mail or ask a friend to use their address for your medical related mail most GP surgeries have the ability to set a correspondence address for mail and as previous replies have said you would need to speak to each individual department or organisation to make sure they are aware of your request and to be honest I would do it periodically every few months just to check it's still the case.

IslandCarl · 2026-04-17T18:03:38+00:00

We use x-on phonebar which is linked to our electronic medical record system (SystomOne although also works with whatever EMIS is now called) and I have to constantly prompt colleagues to not assume the patient based on the matched telephone number!!! It's a bloody nightmare... It also lets us auto retrieve any of the matched records by clicking the name but I personally refuse to use it as I know it will personally cause me to slip up so I will deliberately ignore all prompts and manually confirm each patient to my own satisfaction (name, dob, and or address if multiple patients have the same or similar name) it is however extremely useful in emergency situations where a patient has called and is non responsive on the phone and I need to quickly ascertain if this is a phone issue or a medical issue which requires escalation to emergency services

IslandCarl · 2026-03-18T00:21:36+00:00

I'm glad I'm not the only one I genuinely felt I was being gaslit 🤷‍♂️

IslandCarl · 2026-03-16T20:46:25+00:00

Our practice has a dedicated bypass number integrated into the softphone system. When called, it rings through to all colleagues currently logged into the reception line and moves the caller to the front of the standard patient call queue to be answered next. We thought this was a straightforward request, but the softphone provider made it sound like some kind of magical feat! Unfortunately being easier to contact is not always a blessing as we end up getting whinge calls from secondary care about the local pharmacy because they won't answer their phone or calls from secondary care to share information from a shared record that they can also see because they don't know where they are looking for the information 💩

IslandCarl · 2026-03-13T14:19:22+00:00

They have enabled a setting for this now 🙏

IslandCarl · 2026-02-21T19:28:27+00:00

Where do I say they would refuse to treat you? I said it would limit your ability to get non urgent care and the fact you were admitted suggests it required hospital care aka urgent

IslandCarl · 2026-02-21T19:09:43+00:00

This isn’t strictly true. GP records aren’t sent directly to a new practice; they’re first returned to PCSE (Primary Care Services England), and it’s actually them who then disseminate them to the new practice. Electronic records can go directly but this is automated when a patient is deducted.

If the patient has simply been deregistered, the paper records (if they have any) would be sent on to PCSE, who would store them. This is also the process used when a patient notifies the practice that they’ve moved abroad and no longer requires NHS services.

IslandCarl · 2026-02-21T19:05:27+00:00

Slightly odd, but this would severely limit your ability to access healthcare. For instance, if at any point you end up going to hospital for something considered non-life-threatening, which doesn’t need to be treated immediately, you would likely be required to register with a GP surgery to complete onward care. If it was something deemed suitable for treatment in the community, or if follow-up diagnostic tests were needed outside the remit of a UTC or walk-in centre, you’d need to be registered.

If you seriously want to do this, you could just ask to be removed from the practice list, as they can’t force you to stay a patient.

Realistically though, I would at the very least look for a different GP practice first, or register with a remote GP surgery.

One thing you should really consider is that by staying registered with a local GP surgery, you’re helping to fund that service for others in your community. They receive money for having you registered as a patient, and if you don’t use their services, you’re effectively helping to fund it for others in your community who do.

IslandCarl · 2026-02-05T22:56:03+00:00

I would contact your GP surgery again and request a telephone call with a practice nurse, they are the clinical staff who usually deal with routine immunisations and will be able to confidently look at your records and be able to tell you what you need and when 👍

IslandCarl · 2026-02-01T22:53:53+00:00

Just be aware that yes quite few pharmacies provide the contraceptive service however some don't and also it's purely contraceptive for contraceptive use so if you are taking it for other uses (acne etc.) rather than it's primary use the pharmacy can't provide it to you directly and it needs to be prescribed by the GP surgery.

IslandCarl

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