EMIS has launched a new feature to allow its patient app users to easily access their Covid vaccination record and demonstrate it via their mobiles.
The 12 million registered users of its Patient Access app will be able to access their records from their home screens.
Those who have already requested access to their medical records from their GP practices will now find a clearly visible record of their Covid vaccination status when they log in.
The information includes the date of the vaccination, whether it was the first or the second vaccination, and which type was used, and is presented alongside points such as upcoming appointments or repeat medications.
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, group chief medical officer at EMIS Group, said: ‘This new development makes it quick and easy for users of Patient Access to check – or prove – their Covid vaccination status.
‘We are confident that it will be a practical and welcome resource for people as the government continues to relax Covid restrictions and there is an increasing need to be able to demonstrate vaccination status.’
EMIS further hopes that it will ‘benefit GP practices’, with Dr O’Hanlon adding the ambition for it to remove the ‘pressure of requests for Covid vaccination proof and putting the data directly into patients’ hands’.
GP practice staff do not need to do anything further in order for eligible patients to be able to view their vaccination status this way.
The NHS requires that new patient requests to access their detailed care record and immunisations must be enabled by the practice on an individual basis, and 97% of EMIS practices have the functionality in place to be able to grant these.
The feature has been available since last Friday (30 April) on the website version of the app, and is due to be rolled out in regular stages on the mobile app over the next week – but users will need to update their app to access it.
EMIS also noted that medical record views have increased significantly since the start of the UK’s Covid vaccination programme. During April, 577,000 unique users used the app to view their medical record – a figure that dwindled below 400,000 in December.
GPs can access further information on the EMIS Now customer portal.
This story first appeared on our sister title, Pulse.
