Review Results Service

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is The Review Results Service?

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KCH) has a duty to keep complete, accurate and up-to-date information about your health, so that you can receive the best possible care.

Sometimes the people caring for you need to share some of your information with other healthcare practitioners who are also supporting you. For the Review results service, this includes your GP practice and the clinical staff working there having access to the results of tests that were made when you attended the local hospitals.

To enable this information sharing to happen more quickly and to improve the care you receive, a new process has been put in place in the Bromley area. This will join up the Trust’s pathology, radiology and cardiology outputs with a results service called Review and in turn, with the GP practicesand their existing computer systems.

Information is only shared when it is needed to make your care and treatment safer, easier and faster, and only with those people directly involved in your care. This will for the first time in this area, include allowing a GP to see what tests and results you received while in hospital.

  1. How are my results shared?

Previously patient results will have been shared via traditional methods such as secure post, fax or email, which can be slow and, at times, unreliable. In future,healthcare professionals in primary care will view your results through secure links on the computer systems to which they have access already, allowing better decision making and care to be provided.

  1. What kind of information will be shared?

The Review service will contain and display up-to-date and relevant clinical results about you, at the time you are speaking to the healthcare professional.

Examples of the information that will be shared include:

  • Your name, address and NHS number to help identify you correctly
  • Test results from secondary care requests
  • Pathology(blood tests, swabs etc)
  • Radiology(xrays, ultrasounds etc)
  • Cardiology(24 hour tape, ECG etc)
  1. Why is it better if my information is shared?

To provide the best treatment and support healthcare professional’s need access to the most up-to-date information about you. This information can be from a range of services including hospitals and your GP practice. Therefore, sharing information between these services will allow the people that are supporting you to make better decisions and work with you more effectively.

Your local hospital in King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and your GP surgery already share information between each other electronically. We now want to make sure that your care and treatment is as joined-up as possible by allowing GP practices and hospital to share a wider range of clinical information in this way. Specifically, results of tests that were requested when you were in Hospital will be available for your GP to see.

  1. How will sharing my clinical results benefit me?

By sharing your information your GP practice or hospital team will be able to see the most up-to-date health information about you and be able to make better and quicker decisions about your care and treatment. This will be especially helpful when care is being provided by a range of professionals, is unplanned or in an emergency.

For example, this means that when you visit your GP, they will be able to see what tests you received in hospital. It will allow all healthcare professionals directly involved in your care to work with you to make safe and fully-informed decisions about your care.

As well as providing you with better, safer and quicker treatment, it also means you do not have to give the same information to lots of different people, which can sometimes happen at the moment.

  1. Who can view my record?

Only staff members who are directly supporting your care will have access to your results contained within the Review system. Whenever possible, professionals will inform you that they are accessing your record.

This may not be possible every time, for example in an emergency, however each time a person accessing your information there is a clear record of it.

  1. Who runs the system?

The Review results service is hosted by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It is managed and overseen by clinicians, senior managers and experiencedIT administrators, all of whom are trained to keep the system secure and your information available only to those that need to see it.

  1. Which organisations are involved?

The following organisations are planning to participate in the Local Care Record:

  • King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust including the staff based at the
  • Denmark Hill, Princess Royal University Hospital,
  • Beckenham Beacon,
  • Orpington Hospital,
  • Queen Mary’s Sidcup sites
  • Sevenoaks Hospital
  • Bromley GP Practices

The programme is supported by:

  • NHS Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group
  • King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  1. Can I choose who can see my care results or which ones can be shared?

If you wish not to share your information you can choose to opt-out by speaking to your GP or a member of the KCH staff. Certain sensitive information is never shared, for example sexual health information.

It is not possible to choose which healthcare professionals are able to view your results. However, there are rules in place to make sure that only those directly involved in your care will view your results on a need to know basis.

  1. Who can amend or add information to my results?

Your healthcare information will always be updated locally by the hospital or your GP practice and these updates will be present in the system the next time it is viewed.

  1. How do I know my results are kept secure?

Your information can only be accessed over a secure healthcare network and by those that are providing you with support.

By law, people working in or on behalf of the NHS or as part of NHS healthcare teams must respect your privacy and keep all information about you safe.

  1. How will I know my results are being accessed?

Whenever possible, professionals will inform you that they are accessing your results. This may not be possible every time, for example in an emergency. However, each time a person accesses your information there is a clear record of it and information on this can be provided to you by your GP.

Only staff members who are directly supporting your care will have access to your care record. Whenever possible, professionals will inform you that they are accessing your shared care record.

  1. Can I opt out of my results being shared?

Yes, you can choose not to share your information when you register with your GP practice or when speaking to any healthcare professional that wants to view your results.

To find out more information or if you wish for your information not to be shared, please talk to your GP, healthcare professional, call 01689 863252 or email

  1. Can I access my own results electronically?

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you can request access to any information that an organisation holds about you, including electronic and paper records. You may also be able to access your own records electronically. If you wish to do this, please contact the relevant organisation for example: your registered GP practice or the hospital to which the request relates.

  1. I have heard of another scheme called care.data, how does the Review results service differ?

Care.data is a national NHS service which collects non-identifiable patient information from GP practices to help in planning services and research. The Review results service is not linked to care.data in any way.

If you already opted-out of care.data you will still need to let us know if you want to opt out of the Review results service.

  1. I have heard of the Summary Care Record (SCR), how does the Review results service differ?

The Summary Care Record is used nationally and contains important information from the record held by your GP practice. It includes details of any medicines you are taking, any allergies you suffer from and any bad reactions to medicines that you have previously experienced. The Review results service also includes your name, address, date of birth and your unique NHS number to help identify you correctly.

If you already opted-out of the Summary Care Record you will still need to let us know if you want to opt out of the Review results service.

  1. Can the Government view or use my result information?

No, the Review results service is only ever used for direct patient care and support by local health professionals directly involved in your care.

  1. If I receive treatment or care outside of Bromley and King’s will this update the Review results service?

No, the Review Results service only includes information from local hospital in King’s and Bromley’s GP practices. No other organisations or external companies will be able to access or update the system.

  1. When will my information start to be shared?

The system is already being populated with results from pathology, radiology and cardiology in advance of the roll-out to local GPs. Access to the service will be granted to 6 of the 45 surgeries in Bromley in order to test the system as soon as possible and after a period of notification, allowing patient sot opt-out of the service. The remaining GP practices will join the system during 2016. Speak to your GP if you would like to find out further details.

  1. Will you be sharing my information with or selling it to research or insurance companies?

No, your personal information will never be shared with or sold to external or private organisations including research or insurance companies.

  1. What do I do if I would like to make a complaint about improper use of the Review Results Service?

Please talk to your GP, healthcare professional or call 01689 863252.