Patients of St Mary’s Surgery aged 16 and over are eligible to register for online services. There are a range of NHS-supported platforms available which offer services including managing appointments, reviewing and ordering medication, viewing a summary of medical records, seeing test results and updating personal details.
NHS online services are private and secure. Patients can rest assured that personal and health data is safe and securely protected.
Once you are set up with logins and passwords (where relevant), you will be able to access your details on a computer, phone or tablet.
Which online services to use
AskmyGP
askmyGP is the quickest way to get help from your doctor or clinician. This online system provides a safe and accessible service for all of our patients based on clinical need. The service offers our patients flexibility, the opportunity to be seen on the same day if necessary, and for you to have your healthcare delivered in a way that best suits you.
For the surgery, the askmyGP system enables our doctors and clinicians to respond quicker to patient needs, prioritising who needs to be seen, and ensuring all patients get the right help and support they need. We wish to reassure patients that face to face appointments will be offered to everyone for whom it is clinically necessary.
Using askmyGP
- All our registered patients are invited to use askmyGP. Parents and carers are able to use it on behalf of patients.
- The service is open for any patient to use from 07.30 each weekday. It is closed at weekends and on bank holidays.
- Sometimes, due to high demand and if capacity is reached, askmyGP may close earlier than noon. However, if your request is medically urgent for that day, please do ring the surgery and speak to reception (tel: 01353 663434 option 1).
- Patients can choose a particular named GP if they wish. Please check when your preferred GP is working BEFORE you submit your askmyGP request.
- From the 3rd April 2023 we have added a new function to askmyGP for medication requests.
- A GP or clinician will triage your askmyGP request, usually within an hour of it being submitted, and you will be contacted as soon as possible.
- Patients can choose how the surgery responds to their enquiries, eg by phone, email, secure message, video call, etc. Please also let us know if you are available at a particular time and we will try to accommodate this if we can.
- The GP or clinician will discuss the problem with you and decide on the appropriate next step. You will be notified of the outcome of your askmyGP request within a few hours of your message.
- If your query is either very simple, or not something that the surgery is not the most appropriate service for, then you may receive a text message signposting you to another service such as a dentist or minor eye conditions service, or with a link to the appropriate medical advice online.
- If you are contacting us about an ongoing medical issue, we would usually try to book you an appointment with a clinician who has been previously dealing with the problem for continuity of care. You can help us do this by checking when your GP is working BEFORE you submit your askmyGP request.
- St Mary’s Surgery recognises that there are patients for whom use of the internet is challenging and for those patients, the receptionist will complete your askmyGP request over the phone. This request will then be triaged in the same way by the duty doctor. Anyone who does not have access to the internet is invited to phone the surgery. Please note our reception team will need to ask you some personal and medical questions to be able to complete your request for you.
- If you would like to make an appointment with a nurse or health care assistant please telephone the surgery rather than use askmyGP.
- Please note our telephone lines are most busy on Mondays and there may be longer queues than usual.
The first time you use askmyGP, you will be asked to register some personal details; this will enable you to create your own askmyGP account. Please note patients will need to have a personal email address that is only used by them to access the service.
If you’d like help to get started using askmyGP, please download this leaflet.
SystmOnline
SystmOnline is a national free of charge patient portal that allows patients to manage several aspects of their healthcare. If you register for standard access to SystmOnline you are able to:
SystmOnline also allows patients to view a short summary of their medical records and access test results. This aspect of SystmOnline is known as detailed coded access.
Please note that after you have applied for detailed access a review of your medical records will be performed by a clinician prior to access being granted. This review process will take a minimum of 14 working days.
Before you register for either standard access or detailed coded access, please read the patient information leaflet.
Please download and complete the relevant registration form and return it to the surgery together with your proofs of identity (see below). You can use askmyGP to do this or post your form or drop it in to us.
Once your identity is verified and your application processed, our Patient Services Team will advise you of your login and password.
Please note: patients are currently unable to book any routine appointments using SystmOnline or the NHS App.
Required proof of identity
Patients are required to present two forms of ID when registering for SystmOnline:
- Photo driving licence or passport
- Proof of address
- utility bill issued in the last 3 months
- local authority council tax bill for the current tax year
- bank or building society statement
- current driving licence (if not used for photo ID)
- mortgage statement issued for previous year
- Inland Revenue self-assessment or tax demand.
Third party consent or proxy access
Patients are able to request online access of their medical records to a third party such as a carer, family member or close friend. This is known as third party consent or proxy access. If you wish to set this up, please contact our Patient Services Team or complete this form.
NHS App
Owned and run by the NHS, the NHS App is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.
It is available for iOS (via App Store) and Android (via Google Play). Download and follow the onscreen instructions to activate. The App lets people register securely, including having their ID checked and confirmed, without them having to come to the surgery.
To use the NHS App you must be aged 13 and over and registered with a GP surgery in England.
Updated: 29.6.22