I’ve booked in to see the docs tomorrow after last weeks a&e inducing crash. Question is – how much info gets sent from a&e to the GP, will they be able to see the x-rays? I’m guessing these days its all digital?

I think you’ll find the NHS does not provide the greatest example of information-sharing.

In my experience all this stuff usually gets lost in the system. I’ve had stuff where I get a copy of the letter they’ve sent to the GP, but on talking to the GP later they have no evidence of it.

Hospitals don’t talk to other hospitals either. Have had a smash in one place and was given all the stuff, including x-rays on a CD, to take to my local A&E which I had to book in as a fresh patient to then get into the system to get a referral to the fracture clinic. Could have gone to my GP but it would have taken 3 weeks to get an appointment for them to then do a referral.

There’s no standard means of communication between parts of the NHS, especially in different areas. There was a plan to centralise everything but people protested about privacy and then the gov went ahead anyway and the project was overspent and went tits up so was scrapped.

I’m assuming it depends on the NHS trust in question, but I’d echo the comment above.

My wife had a stay in a ward, and after being discharged she had to go back to a day clinic for a check up. We were in the same building but downstairs from the ward, but the consultant we saw didn’t have the details of how she was treated in the ward. We had to explain everything…fortunately my wife had written everything down.

Your GP probably won’t know anything.

Great. Seems ridiculous, but perhaps not surprising.

When I had an op recently I was given a letter to take to my GP – which was probably the most reliable way of getting it there. TBH the best method of information exchange within the NHS would be to just give the patient all the details which they can then take to whoever they’re going to see.

if your GP has the appropriate system he can ask for them to be transferred to them, but it won’t happen automatically.