Access restriction is used to protect the location of patients who may be at risk.
The purpose of the restriction, often referred to as S-flagging a patient record, is to ensure that patient location information such as the patient’s address or landline phone number is protected from viewing by healthcare professionals. A healthcare professional can still look up an S-flagged patient’s NHS number if they are provided with their name and date of birth.
If a patient’s demographic record is restricted the patient will be unable to benefit from some of the national NHS Digital systems that require location information, including e-Referral Service (e-RS), GP2GP, Summary Care Records (SCR) and the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). It may also prevent access to services enabled through NHS login.
In some cases, location information remains available to national NHS services where this is seen to be in the best interest of the patient. This includes services such as cancer screening, GP registration and payments. Where appropriate, S-flagged patients will continue to be sent letters or contacted by text message by these services. Additionally, to ensure that all patients can receive a digital COVID Pass whilst maintaining appropriate protection, location information is removed from the Pass for S-flagged patients.
For other services without access to contact details, including address or telephone number, the registered GP practice may use contact information held in their local system to forward correspondence to the patient on behalf of the organisation delivering the NHS service.