My Health and Care Record/PKB - University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

With My Health and Care Record you can add, access and share your health information with healthcare professionals, family and carers – anytime, anywhere.

What is My Health and Care Record?

Powered by Patients Know Best, My Health and Care Record is a secure online personal health record where you can see most of your hospital appointment letters, laboratory results and radiology reports.

If you choose to register, you’ll receive the majority of hospital letters through the platform, meaning all your information is stored securely in one place.

At UHSussex we are rolling out My Health and Care Record across our medical teams.

The benefits of My Health and Care Record

Your My Health and Care Record puts information about health in your hands. The benefits include:

a secure online space to see your hospital appointment and clinical letters and test results
instant notifications when new information is made available
your information is available on any internet enabled device, anywhere, anytime
the option (if you wish) to securely share this information with family, carers and health professionals
paperless online access to your personal health information, reducing the impact on the environment
recent communication is available to view.

Read Juliet’s story

Want to hear how My Health and Care Record has already benefitted patients in Sussex?

Juliet, an active grandmother of three, enjoys spending time outdoors with her family. Having always led an active life, in the last few years, she has come to see her GP more regularly for a few ongoing health (to manage her arthritis, type two diabetes and cholesterol).

In order to maintain her love of outdoor activities, she is managing to keep track of her health by viewing her appointment letters, x ray reports and blood results on her my health and care record.

“As much as I’d like to think my body hasn’t changed, my health has slowed me down in the past few years. My husband and I like to travel and we’re often away from home, so being able to keep track my appointments without needing to wait at home for a letter has been brilliant. It’s also been quite helpful to be able to view my blood results online and not have to bother my GP practice calling them for the results. After seeing how easy it is to use, even my husband has registered and he’s still using the landline! It’s also been rather helpful giving my daughter permission to see my appointments as I have to admit my memory isn’t what it used to be, so she is helping to keep me on track!”

How patients use My Health and Care Record

Over 10,000 patients responsed to our My Health and Care Record survey to better understand how they use it, what they like and features they’d like to be added in the future.

Survey findings

Our survey found that:

most patients viewed their blood results and clinic letters
95% of patients would recommend, maybe recommend or have already recommended My Health and Care Record to friends and family
only 3% of patients felt their data isn’t secure. We can confirm your data held within My Health and Care Record is encrypted and maintained in line with UHSussex Data Protection Policies. Your data is not held on your computer device. Patient information is encrypted so that only those people with consent to view your information can do so.

Recruiting specialty teams at UHSussex

Some speciality teams at UHSussex are starting to use My Health and Care Record to make the most of the features available including:

patient initiated follow up pathways
patient information libraries
messaging
patient symptom tracking

We’ve been inspired by neighbouring trusts who have used My Health and Care Record with great success.

Chelsea and Westminster NHS reduce hospital and GP attendances for patients with heart failure

Chelsea and Westminster asked PKB to build a platform for patients with heart failure to track their symptoms and improve communication between patients and clinicians. This reduced the number of A&E, hospital and GP attendances and improved patient long term outcomes.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust reduce economic cost to patient and hospital for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust worked with PKB to build a comprehensive patient symptom tracker. Patients are able to self-manage their condition far more effectively and warn their clinicians before problems occur. This reduce A&E attendances and increases earlier intervention as patients can quickly flag side effects of their medications.

Frequently asked questions about My Health and Care Record (MHCR)

Can my family and carer see my record?

Yes, if you choose to. You can add them as a carer on your record. They can then view your record via the sharing tab on their own record.

How long will it take for information to be uploaded onto MHCR?

This depends on the type of information. For example, clinic and appointment letters will be available after a few days. Radiology reports are released after 28 days. For blood tests, most are released after a few days, but some results are withheld for 28 days to allow your clinician time to discuss the results with you first.

Appointment data will be available immediately as soon as it is booked by the trust. Appointment letters take 24 hours to appear, other letters can take a little longer depending on how long it take the teams to type up the discharge summaries.

What happens if I decide not to register?

My Health and Care Record is completely optional but there are many benefits to patients having access to their own online personal health record and who want to share their information with their choice of clinicians, carers and family members. If you choose not to register, you will receive your appointment letters and clinical communication through the post in exactly the same way as before.

How will I be notified of new information?

When you register, you will be asked to provide an email address. A notification is sent to this email address when new information is available.

What is needed to access My Health and Care Record?

An internet enabled device and an email address. With help to sign in or register, see our Patient Knows Best Manual.

Is my data held on MHCR safe and secure?

Yes. Your data is encrypted and maintained in line with University Hospitals Sussex Trust Data Protection Policies. Your data is not held on your computer device. Patient information is encrypted so that only those people with consent to view your information can do so.

Who should I contact if I have any questions or get stuck?

If you have any questions about your health, you should contact your clinical team or GP. If your question concerns the My Health and Care Record platform, you can email the team at uhsussex.pkb.information@nhs.net. If you are having difficulty registering access the Patient Knows Best manual.