One of the key features of the Evergreen Life app and website is being able to link with your GP* so you can use online services and have your health records just a couple of clicks away. But you may only have basic access.

*Available at GP practices in England.

What is full access?

When you first link to your GP, you may only have access to limited information like a summary, list of medications, booking appointments and ordering repeat prescriptions. But you’re entitled to request full access so you can see all of your record, including allergies, immunisations, results, consultations and letters etc.

You’ll be able to check if the practice has sent or received a letter to or from the hospital. You can also understand better why something has been done and how you can help yourself more. The more of your record that’s shared with you, the more time is saved and the safer the care. There is evidence that if 30% of patients have full record access, it reduces the need for appointments by 10% and saves hundreds of telephone calls.

If you have not yet linked, you will first need to link your Evergreen Life account to your GP record.

Full access: Your rights

The more people that ask for full record access, the more likely GPs will be to prioritise it. Ultimately, full access gives you more power to take control of your health and save your GP time and resources in the long run.

Following the NHS policy update in December 2022, most of us should be able to see entries to our full GP record that have been made after that date (also called prospective access). If this is the case for you, the number of available records in your app may have increased automatically. This means you’ll now have more information about your own health at your fingertips.

Even if you previously had basic access, you should be able to see your health problems as recorded by the GP; your medications; your allergies; your vaccinations; your letters; your test results; and the free-text entries that the GP has recorded for each consultation.

Your GP practice may want to screen your records before sharing them with you. A few people may not be given access if the practice is concerned that access may cause harm.

There are some practices not included in this new scheme. If you’re at one of these practices, then you may still only have been given limited access to your GP record.

Also, even if your practice is part of this scheme, you still might not have been granted access to your historic records (i.e. pre-December 2022, also called retrospective access) but you can still request this if you wish.

If you’d like to find out if you can get access to your full GP record including historic data, follow the steps below:

We’ve created a letter template for you that explains formally to your GP what you want. You can download it here and then edit and send or email it to your surgery.

The practice will need to screen your record to check that it is safe for you to see your full record. That may take a few days. It is possible that they will refuse if they feel full access poses a risk to you.

Get support

Let us help. If you’re not getting anywhere, get in touch and we may be able to advise further. Email us hello@evergreen-life.co.uk or call us on 0161 768 6063.