What's New in Patient Services?

• Preferred Spoken and Written Language - You can now select your preferred spoken and written language from the Account Details screen, see How do I update my language preferences? for details.
• Front Screen - When you open Patient Services, the initial screen you see is now the log in screen.

• To further improve the security built into Patient Services, if you have a basic patient services account, you can only view appointments made online. Appointments made via your surgery, either in person or by telephone are no longer displayed.

• Cookie Policy - A new option to view the website Cookie policy is available, see What are Cookies?
• England Only - You can now view your practices details from your Account Details screen.

• Basic Registration (Scotland and Northern Ireland) - It is now possible to register to use Patient Services without visiting your practice. Basic registration allows you access to book appointments only, this facility is only available if enabled by your GP surgery. Simply use the basic registration option via Patient Services and book your appointment. Then go to your GPs practice on the right day and time. If you want to upgrade to a full registration take two proofs of identity with you. See Basic Patient Services Registration for details, or watch the video tutorial Creating a Basic Patient Services Account.

• EPS Pharmacy Nomination - England Only - The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) sends electronic prescriptions from your GP surgery to your nominated pharmacy. You can select the pharmacy your prescriptions are sent to from the My Prescriptions option within Patient Services, see EPS Pharmacy Nomination - England Only for details.

• Preferred Pharmacy - Your preferred pharmacy is selected by you, but set on your record by your GP Surgery. It is the pharmacy your surgery send your prescriptions to if they offer, and you subscribe to, this service. You can now view your Preferred Pharmacy from your Patient Services account, see What is my Preferred Pharmacy? for details

• Patient to Practice Messaging - England and Northern Ireland only - A two way messaging facility has been introduced, enabling you to send a secure message directly to your surgery, and your surgery to send a secure message to you, all via your Patient Services account. See Messaging for details.

• Online services provider choice - The NHS have introduced the facility for you to chose the provider of your online services. See Registering for Patient Services from www.nhs.uk/GPonlineservices (England only) for details.

• Appointments History - Your Appointments History are now displayed in reverse chronological order.

• Request Other Medication - An option to enable you to request medication that you do not have on repeat has been added. From My Prescriptions, simply select Request Other Medication, type in what you require and select Request. Please be aware this facility is only available if enabled by your GP surgery. See How do I Request Other Medication? for details.
• Appointments History - An option to view your appointments history has been added. From My Appointments, simply select Appointments History to view a list of your previous and missed appointments. See How do I view my Appointments History? for details.
• Renew a link - If you should change your surgery or wish to unlink from your current surgery for whatever reason, there is a new Reset Account option available from My Account. See How do I unlink my account from my surgery? and How do I relink my Patient Services Account? for details.

• Basic Registration (England only) - It is now possible to register to use Patient Services without visiting your practice. Basic registration allows you access to book appointments only, this facility is only available if enabled by your GP surgery. Simply use the basic registration option via Patient Services and book your appointment. Then go to your GPs practice on the right day and time. If you want to upgrade to a full registration take two proofs of identity with you. See Basic Patient Services Registration for details, or watch Video Tutorial - How do I create a basic Patient Services account.
• Password rules updated - To improve your security, you are no longer able to use the word "password" as your password. If you have already included the word 'password' in your password, this does not have to be changed, but we recommend that you update it to a more secure password at your earliest convenience.

• Welcome Screen - If there are any planned outages you are now warned via a message on the Patient Services Welcome screen.
• Appointments:
  • The filter you use for specifying appointments criteria has been simplified
  • The appointments initially offered are now restricted to the next two weeks. This drastically improves the screen loading time, especially if you are registered at a large GP surgery.
• Error messages - Various error messages have been updated to give you more information on the problem encountered.

• Registration - The registration process has been simplified, depending on the software your GP surgery is running, you are directed to either the new single step or a simplified version of the two step registration process.
• Welcome Screen - The Patient Services Welcome screen has been updated with large clear buttons for you to select from, simply select the services you require.

• Front Screen - The log in form is now in the centre of the screen.
• Appointments - If there are no appointments displayed after a search, Why are there no Appointments? displays containing a link to the Help.
• Appointments - Different types of appointment are now highlighted in different colours. The colours are dictated by your practice and are designed to make it easier for you to select the correct appointment type.
• Prescriptions - The selection box is now displayed to the left of the drug name, making it easier to select the correct medication.
• Forgotten Username - The Account Recovery utility now only requires your email address in order to send you your user details. If however you have registered more than one patient to this email address you still need to input name and date of birth details.
• Registration - If during the initial registration process you try to use a name already in use, the Username displays in red and a message displays.
• My Medical Record - Investigations - Where additional information is available, there is a link to Lab Tests Online from within the Investigations screen. Lab Test Online is a website that may help you understand the tests that are displayed on your record. Simply select Information , please remember this is about the test, not your result.

New Functionality within Patient Services

• My Medical Record - You can now, subject to consent, view your coded medical record.
  • This allows you to:
    • View the diagnoses, advice and treatment recorded by your clinician
    • Check your test results
    • Check your immunisation history
    • Check whether a referral has been made
    • Spot any errors or mistakes and tell your GP or practice
    • Access key medical information if something should happen to you away from home or when the surgery is closed

• Contact Website Support - This screen has been updated to include a tick box to confirm that you understand this information is sent to Vision and not your GP practice, and that you have not included any medical information on this form
• Welcome Page - The My Account and Sign Out options have been split out from your name on the top menu bar
• Prescriptions - The title Past Repeat Prescriptions has replaced Unavailable Prescriptions in preparation for the ability to request acute prescriptions