Practices have historically received letters from patients asking for their husband/wife/daughter/nephew/neighbour to be given access rights to make enquiries on the patient’s behalf. Unfortunately, this system is open to abuse, and the practice needs to be sure that the patient is definitely the one requesting this, and knows exactly what they are giving access to.
Due to data protection and safeguarding, we have a formal approach and a consent form. See below.
Once the consent form has been filled out, the patient must bring ID to reception in order for this to be activated. We cannot accept someone bringing in another patient’s ID.
We need to see the person at the same time as the form.
If the patient cannot consent, we will request a copy of a legal document to demonstrate that someone else has the authority to be added to a patient’s record.