What do patients want from online access to their primary care record? A qualitative investigation into patients’ reported needs and expectations regarding online access.

Background

The government wants more people to be able to use their GP health record securely online to access primary care, and GP surgeries are now making this possible.

Research shows benefits for people doing this. For example, they feel more in control and more able to communicate with healthcare staff. The down sides include some professionals not being keen on the idea, people worrying how safe this is, or not always understanding what is in their record.

Research has mainly looked at the pros and cons of letting people look at their records, or on how they look at their record. Few studies have asked people what they actually want.

More research is needed to find out how to design patient records to guide people towards staying healthy or cope with health problems. To get the most out of people being able to see their health record online, we need to understand more about what people want and what support they might need.

Aims

This study aims to find out more about what people want from using their primary care record online, what they would like to be able to do with this, and what help they might need.

Methods

We will interview patients and have group discussions to find out more about what people think about, and want from, access to their health record online. We will focus specifically on two groups: people who may develop health problems in the future, and people with more than one long term health condition. We will involve patients and the public at all stages of the research.

Expected outcomes

Our findings will help us design a larger set of studies, work with companies that make records available online, and eventually help design better online records so that people can benefit and lead healthier lives.