GP Connect
GP Connect allows authorised health and social care workers in a variety of care settings to access their patients' GP records.
Latest news
Medical examiners use case
- GP Connect HTML has been uplifted to enable medical examiners to access the records of deceased patients for the statutory purpose of reviewing deaths. Suppliers will need to undertake some additional assurance.
- To support medical examiners, we have updated the GP Connect Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and National Data Sharing Arrangement (NDSA).
About this service
GP Connect allows authorised health and social care workers in a variety of care settings to access their patients' GP records.
Health and social care workers can:
- view a patient's care record and associated documents
- update a patient's care record and associated documents
- manage a patient's appointments
GP Connect is a national service that's integrated with all major GP software providers. It routes requests to the appropriate GP system, based on the patient's registered GP.
It does not store any GP, patient or care provider data - it merely enables interconnectivity between authorised and approved systems.
We are working on allowing patients to access GP Connect. Patients will be able to:
- view their own care record
- view their appointments
- view their prescriptions
- request permission to view all of the above, if not already granted
GP Connect products
GP Connect consists of a number of individual 'products', each of which can be used independently:
Product | Description | |
---|---|---|
Access Record | HTML | Access a patient's GP care record as an 'unstructured' document that can be viewed in its entirety. |
Structured | Access a patient's GP care record as a 'structured', coded and machine-readable data record that can be viewed in individual sections and interpreted by computers. | |
Access Document | Access any documents which are attached to the patient's GP record, such a consultation summary from another care setting. | |
Update Record (in development) | Update a patient's GP care record with structured data (community pharmacy use only). | |
Send Document | Attach a new document to a patient's GP record, such as a consultation summary from another care setting. | |
Appointment Management | Manage a patient's GP appointments. | |
Patient Facing APIs (in development) | As a patient, view your own record and prescriptions. |
Who this service is for
GP Connect is for:
- health and social care workers
- patients (in development)
The patient must be registered with a GP in England.
GP Connect can be used in a variety of care settings but can only be used for the purpose of direct care, and by medical examiners for the statutory purpose of reviewing deaths, as per our legal directions.
Some functions have restricted use. For example, Update Record is currently only for use by community pharmacy.
Care settings must sign the National Data Sharing Arrangement for GP Connect.
Users cannot access the service directly - they must access it via point-of-care or patient-facing software that is integrated with the GP Connect APIs.
Benefits
- reduced admin time for healthcare staff through automated data handling
- faster and improved decision making for clinicians
- faster patient journey through care pathways due to better availability of information
- reduced cost and accelerated development of new digital solutions across all care settings
What information is available
Who is included
GP Connect provides access to patient records held by their GP. For a given patient's record to be available via GP Connect, the following must be true:
- the patient must be registered with a GP in England
- the GP's software must support GP Connect
- the GP must have gone live with GP Connect
- the patient must not have opted out of GP Connect
Note that some suppliers and GPs might be live with a subset of the GP Connect products.
What information is held for each patient
For details of information held for each patient, see Appendix 2 of the GP Connect transparency notice.
National usage policy
GP Connect for providers
Providing access to patient records via GP Connect is mandated for all GP practices in England.
Accordingly, it is also mandated for GP software suppliers as part of the GP IT Futures framework, and will be mandated as part of the upcoming Digital Services for Integrated Care framework that replaces it.
GP Connect for consumers
Using GP Connect to access GP records from other care settings isn't usually mandated, however:
- it might be mandated by specific commercial frameworks
- even if not mandated, it is strongly recommended as it can help improve patient outcomes.
Status, service level and current usage
GP Connect is live with further GP Connect capabilities part way through their design, implementation and roll-out.
The status of each of the GP Connect products is as follows:
Product | Status | Go-live date |
---|---|---|
Access Record: HTML | Live - in active use | 2018 |
Appointment Management | Live - in active use | 2018 |
Access Record: Structured - medications and allergies |
Live - in active use |
2019 |
Send Document | Live - in active use | 2023 |
Access Record: Structured - encounters and uncategorised | In FoT (EMIS and Medicus only) | 2024 |
Access Record: Structured - immunisations | In FoT (EMIS and Medicus only) | 2024 |
Access Record: Structured - investigations | In FoT (Medicus only) | 2024 |
Update Record (pharmacy only) | In development | 2024 |
Access Document | FoT ready (EMIS, TPP and Medicus) | 2024/25 |
Patient Facing Services | In FoT (Medicus only) |
2024 |
'FoT' refers to First of Type, an iterative cycle that facilitates the development, self-assessment, assurance and live deployment of supplier systems consuming GP Connect products.
GP Connect is a silver service, meaning it is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and supported from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays.
How to access this service
Health and social care workers
To access GP Connect, you need to be using clinical software that is integrated as a GP Connect 'consumer'.
If you are using a product that has already been assured for GP Connect or you intend to use a product that has been assured with a GP Connect capability (see Consumer supplier progress), you will need to contact your IT helpdesk or supplier account manager to arrange GP Connect for your organisation.
If you are a supplier or programme that wants to onboard, see Onboarding.
Contact us
Enquiry | Point of contact |
---|---|
Live service incident |
National Service Desk Email: [email protected] |
General enquiries about the service |
GP Connect team Email: [email protected] |
NHS Developer community | Developer Community forum |
Strategic direction of the service |
GP Connect team Email: [email protected] |
Senior responsible officer (SRO) |
GP Connect team Email: [email protected] |
Further information
Information for health and social care organisations who use the GP Connect service.
GP Connect: Access Record makes patient medical information available to all appropriate clinicians when and where they need it to support direct patient care, leading to improvements in both care and outcomes.
The GP Connect: Send Document provides the capability for a patient’s registered GP practice to receive a document capturing the details of a care encounter following a patient being seen in another care setting.
We're helping primary care organisations share appointments with other care settings such as Extended Access Hubs, NHS111 and COVID vaccination hubs to improve patient care. The majority of GP practices in England can now use GP Connect: Appointment Management so that organisations can share and manage their appointments to support joined-up patient care.
Last edited: 14 May 2025 3:35 pm