GP Connect (draft)

For health and care staff, GP Connect provides secure access to a patient’s GP record when patients are treated away from their registered GP practice. Health and care staff use GP Connect through the clinical or care systems they already work with, rather than through a separate GP Connect service or website.

GP Connect helps to:

• support safer clinical decisions by making GP information available when it’s needed
• improve continuity of care when patients are treated in other care settings
• reduce delays caused by relying on phone calls or manual information sharing

GP Connect is not:

• used beyond direct patient care, plus Medical Examiners
• a replacement for local clinical systems or records
• accessed directly by patients

We are working on allowing patients to access GP Connect through the NHS App – they will be able to view their own care record and their prescriptions.

How it works

GP Connect securely connects approved health and care systems to GP practice records, helping organisations share information needed for direct patient care. It acts as an intermediary between systems that hold patient information and systems that need to access or update that information, enabling information sharing across care settings through nationally managed standards and services.

• How GP Connect works
  Architecture, data flows and system components

GP Connect supports the delivery of direct patient care across a range of health and care settings. It is used by authorised professionals and organisations when patients are cared for outside their registered GP practice.

Health and care professionals

GP Connect is used by authorised health and care staff who need access to GP record information to support direct care, such as:

• clinicians working in settings beyond GP practices
• professionals delivering care in community, urgent, or non‑acute settings

Staff use GP Connect through the clinical or care systems provided by their organisation

Organisations providing care

GP Connect is used by organisations involved in delivering direct patient care, including:

• NHS and other health organisations
• social care organisations providing regulated care

Organisations must meet national requirements and use approved systems to enable access for their staff.

Care settings where GP Connect is commonly used

GP Connect is used in a range of care settings, including:

• care homes
• community and mental health services
• urgent and emergency care
• pharmacies
• hospices and social care settings

Not all organisations or care settings use all GP Connect services.

GP Connect provides capabilities that support the secure sharing of GP record information across health and care settings. These capabilities are delivered through a series of products designed to meet different information-sharing needs

• What GP Connect does
  Products, capabilities and available information

GP Connect supports direct patient care by enabling approved health and care systems to securely access and share GP record information when patients receive care outside their registered GP practice. It is commonly used to support access to patient information, continuity of care across services, and information sharing between care settings.

Explore common use cases and examples to understand when GP Connect may be relevant to your organisation, service or product.

• When to use GP Connect
  Scenarios and care settings
• Service availability
  Adoption, status and roadmap

GP Connect works alongside a range of national NHS services, platforms and frameworks that help identify patients, route requests and enable secure communication between systems.

Understanding these relationships can help suppliers, developers and integrators see how GP Connect fits within the wider NHS digital ecosystem. See detailed information on how this service fits with others.

This section explains how GP Connect is made available to organisations and systems, and what that means in practice. Use is subject to national requirements and approved use for direct patient care.

Note: You cannot sign up to GP Connect directly. It is part of approved clinical or care software, not a separate service with its own registration or login.

To use GP Connect, you'll need to meet technical and governance requirements and complete onboarding. The pages below explain what's required and how to get started.

• Compliance and governance
  Data protection, legal and governance requirements
• Implementation and integration
  Guidance, APIs and approaches for integrating the service
• Onboarding
  Technical, organisational and setup requirements for using the service

Get started

Once you understand the service and how it applies to your needs, you can begin the process of using it. In most cases, this means starting onboarding. You can also get support from the Developer Community if you need help or want to discuss your approach.

• How GP Connect works

• What GP Connect does

• When to use GP Connect

• Service availability

• Onboarding requirements

• Compliance and governance requirements

• Implementation and integration