Patient Access - Is this a Joke?

[#1]

Is patient record showing the same records as the NHS app but they are greyed out? can they be selected? is there any spinner or indication that it is trying to fetch/refresh them?

Were you looking at the full details which include doctor's notes etc or a summary?

Does it have a notification or message section once logged in? Maybe there is a message that explains why?

[#2]

I use both PA and the NHS app but have different login details for both. No issues although occasionally PA requests authorisation but that's easy.

I also have my GP but haven't used that for some time.

As for captures I often can't make out whether you include the cyclist or the small part of the wheel taking up just a few pixels of a square. Do you include the traffic light pole or the wire holding it up?

[#3]

@Mav On the few occasions I get a CAPTCHA, I check for the four pictures with the largest representation of the requested item - usually (999 times out of 1000), I get it right.

[#4]

Just a follow-up on this - with the advice from Patient Access Support. 😑

Oh course the log on/phone number issue has already been solved, courtesy of cpc6128. I have indeed just tested it by direct log in to PA using the PA credentials route. It worked! (At least the log in did). Surprised to get past the CAPTCHAS surprisingly easily - possibly helped by my recently noticing they are dynamic CAPTCHAS, not static ones. That is rather than complete one, then NEXT, as you tick them they change spontaneously into new challenges of the same variety - so one CAPTCHA = multiple CAPTCHA challenges rather than a series of different CAPTCHAS. Anyway... got the PIN to the new phone number, and logged in, so that now works. 🙂

It might though be fun to see what PA Support's answer was! 🙄

"If you are unable to receive a verification code to your mobile phone - we would recommend deleting your account and re-registering - as this is the fastest way of ensuring you can gain access to your GP's online services."

So that's the "fastest way" is it?

"Depending on your circumstances - there are two main options to consider:

1) You can register using Patient Access credentials following the guidance that can be found here.

When registering a new account following this route - you would set up an authenticator app instead of SMS authentication, ensuring you are able to sign in without needing to receive an SMS verification code."

Would I indeed?

"2) If you are registered with a GP practice based in England - you can also register using NHS login, guidance on this can be found here."

Yes. We know that works - and surely it is what anyone sane is already using?

"If you would like to delete your account and re-register, we can send you an email to begin the deletion process. Please let us know if you'd like to proceed."

Thanks but no thanks (Then again...). So that's Patient Access Support. No better than it has proved to be in the past.

OTOH: Once logged in to PA, by whatever route, I still can't see any medical records.

Don't think I'll bother PA Support with that one, unless I really have to. I think I can guess their solution...

[#5]

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@cpc6128 wrote:

Is patient record showing the same records as the NHS app but they are greyed out? can they be selected? is there any spinner or indication that it is trying to fetch/refresh them?

Were you looking at the full details which include doctor's notes etc or a summary?

Does it have a notification or message section once logged in? Maybe there is a message that explains why?

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It still works with some things, such as ordering medication. But nothing at all to do with medical records/tests. It just shows every page greyed out with an apparent repetitive 'refreshing' sweep. But nothing ever shows.

I didn't notice any information on this, though seem to vaguely remember some mention somewhere of some change in related NHS system. But can't remember what it was or trace any record of it at present. There have indeed been changes to the NHS system recently. I guess I'll ask the GP surgery if they know anything.

[#6]

I hope this is not premature, as I have not yet fully tested things - though, to my surprise, I rapidly passed my recent CAPTCHA challenge. As a by-product of all this I may have got to the bottom of my previous CAPTCHA woes, which might also be useful to some others.

Perhaps they, like me, had failed to fully become consciously aware of how CAPTCHAS have changed since they were first introduced, when they simply showed you a simple multi piece 'jig-saw' version of a clear, simple, easily understood static photo on a single topic. You clicked and either PASSED or FAILED - if the latter you were presented with another of the same.

But now you are presented with very different things, which can even include the original simple type. Now they are not static, they are dynamic, so even as you correctly tick squares they or other squares are changing to the same or new pictures which you still need to click on to successfully complete the CAPTCHA displayed. Plus some of the squares may be clear simple photos - as in the original - whereas now some may be almost on the threshold of visibility: dark, gloomy, impenetrable images, very grainy pictures of hard to discern tiny buses(?) seemingly three miles away down the highway etc.

Presumably this is all to try and defeat AI Bots successfully completing the CAPTCHA, relying on the as yet still superior ability of the human visual system over AI capabilities. So I may have learned something. Meanwhile, the Bots are still learning...

[#7]

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@jab1 wrote:

@Mav On the few occasions I get a CAPTCHA, I check for the four pictures with the largest representation of the requested item - usually (999 times out of 1000), I get it right.

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Could be that's my mistake? My brain is too much like a Bot?

🤣

[#8]

@pvmb I've been reading this thread with interest. I used to use Patient Access a lot but then it got more difficult/limited and other systems improved. In the end, some months ago now, I totally gave up on it and closed my account. It sounds like your difficulties may be a further progression down the route that forced me away. Our GPs web site seems to be a widely-used generic system and I also looked at that but it has its issues too.

I now almost exclusively use the main NHS web site and App, which are far from ideal but now seem to cover everything. Personally I prefer the web site accessed from a computer. You find that here: Access your NHS account - NHS or login directly here: Log In 

[#9]

@HPsauce 

As tempting as it now is to delete my Patient Access account, I'll hang on for now as I am used to the appearance of the site's UI - especially compared to the NHS's older purely text based approach. Though I have long used the NHS credentials approach to log on to my PA account. But, unless the current missing medical records issue on PA can be sorted out, there won't be much incentive to carry on with it.

As with most things these days, both PA and the NHS want to move people off website access onto an 'App'. I am still resisting.

(Sadly, since only yesterday, my favourite phone AI (Perplexity) seems to have gone doollaly and even it is now demanding I continue with "log in to Google" - just as I'm due to visit the Natural History Museum tomorrow...)