PATIENTS of Launceston Medical Centre are being urged to use the online service for accessing their medical record summaries.

Those who use the service can see what medication they have been issued with over the past 12 months along with their current prescribed medication and then re-order prescriptions directly online.

The medical centre’s IT manager, Andy Yardley, told the July meeting of the Patient Participation Group: “This facility for ordering online is quicker and more efficient than the existing web service.

“It links directly to the full system used by the medical centre and cuts down on administration time, whereas the old system was a stand-alone system. Patients can also track the progress of their prescription requests.

“Patients who have access to their medical record summaries are able to review the information they contain and make changes, if necessary. This is the information that other medical staff, hospitals for instance, can access in an emergency.”

Because of the personal nature of the information contained in the summaries, patients must register with the surgery for the service which gives information on:

l Medication issued within the last 12 months

l Current repeat medication

l Past repeat medication (discontinued within the last 6 months)

l Allergies and sensitivities

l Blood test results.

Mr Yardley added: “Patients can register by ringing the surgery on 01566 772131, select option 3, and then select Option 1, and ask to speak to me or Charlotte.

“We will go through the security checks needed to generate a username/password and then they will be able to use the system.

“New patients are now automatically being registered with this new system, called SystmOnline, and we hope to transfer all existing patients over the next couple of years because this new facility is just so efficient.”