A practice in the Sheffield area

3. Mr H complains that the Practice have been denying him proxy assess to his daughter’s medical records from November 2024. Mr H also says the Practice have refused his daughter access to its service, as he has been unable to arrange GP appointments on her behalf.

4. Mr H says the failures by the Practice amounts to indirect medical negligence. He says the denial of access to vital medical information and services has hindered his ability to make informed and timely healthcare decisions for his daughter.

5. Mr H would like the Practice to provide unrestricted online proxy access to his daughter’s NHS records, to make service improvements and provide a financial remedy.

6. Mr H visited the Practice in late November 2024 and asked it to provide him with proxy access to his daughter’s medical records. In early December Mr H again visited the Practice asking for proxy access to his daughter’s medical records.

7. In early January 2025, Mr H complained to the Practice regarding the lack of communication to his request and the delay providing him proxy access to his daughter’s medical records. The Practice responded to Mr H’s request in mid-January and confirmed it had granted him access to its online services.

8. Shortly afterwards, the Practice revoked Mr H’s access to its online service. In late January the Practice wrote to Mr H to explain why it removed his access to its online services.

9. Around the same time Mr H wrote to the Practice to confirm he disagreed with its decision to remove his proxy access, and he asked for his complaint to be escalated. In early February the Practice provided a response to Mr H saying the only information he was being denied access to was pertaining to the mother of his daughter.

10. Mr H says he contacted the Practice in early June for a GP appointment for his daughter, as she was suffering from severe flu symptoms. Mr H says the Practice told him it had no available GP appointments.

11. Later in June Mr H wrote to the Practice warning of legal action if it did not grant him unrestricted real-time proxy access to all medical records concerning his daughter. Mr H explained this should include access via the NHS App and any other platforms or systems used by the Practice for appointment bookings and medical records review.

12. In late June Mr H says contacted the Practice as his daughter’s condition had deteriorated. Mr H says the Practice told him there were no available appointments. In mid-July the Practice provided its response to Mr H’s complaint.

15. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this, and we have not seen any indications that something has gone wrong. We have explained why below.

Proxy access

16. Mr H complains the Practice has been denying him proxy assess to his daughter’s medical records from November 2024.

17. The Practice’s guidance says proxy access is not a legal right. It is granted at the Practice’s discretion. Information sharing follows the minimum necessary principle that access will be proportionate and appropriate to the patient’s needs. Access must not compromise patient safety, confidentiality, or safeguarding and can be withdraw at any time.

18. The NHS England guidance says proxy access is subject to a number of checks and safeguards. If needed, the Practice may withdraw the proxy access at any time. Proxy access may be withdrawn if there is believed to be a risk to the security of the online account by the proxy.

19. We can see Mr H requested proxy access to his daughter’s medical records in November and December 2024, and January 2025. The Practice provided proxy access in January. The Practice’s action here appear to be in line with the Practice’s guidance.

20. The records show later in January, the mother of Mr H’s daughter spoke with the Practice to say she was happy for her daughter’s medical records to be shared with Mr H. However, the Practice records show she did not give consent for any of her personal information to be shared with Mr H.

21. We can see the Practice wrote to Mr H in late January. It explained that due to technical limitations in its medical records system, it could not provide full online access to his daughter's medical records and hide the mother's information in those records. The Practice therefore offered Mr H a compromise, that it would send medical records digitally every three months on his request, with the mother’s personal details redacted.

22. The Practice’s actions here appear to be in line with the Practice’s guidance in relation to confidentiality, and in line the NHS England guidance in relation to the risk of the security to the online account. When the mother raised concerns about her personal information being inadvertently shared, the Practice took action to prevent this.

23. We recognise Mr H is upset the Practice removed his proxy access to his daughter’s medical records. We acknowledge he feels this lack of access has impacted his ability to make informed decisions about his daughter’s healthcare. We appreciate how worrying this must be for him.

24. Based on the evidence we have considered, we have not seen any indication of a failing in the Practice’s actions here. The Practice explained to Mr H why his proxy access was revoked and offered a compromise moving forward. It agreed that it would send his daughters medical records digitally every three months on his request, so Mr H would still have access to his daughter’s records.

25. We have therefore decided not to consider this part of Mr H’s complaint any further. We realise our decision here will cause further frustration for Mr H and we are sorry for any upset or distress our decision may cause.

GP appointments

26. Mr H says the Practice have refused his daughter access to its service. He says when he contacted the Practice to arrange GP appointments for his daughter in June, he was told there were no appointments available. Mr H says if he had access to the Practice’s online service then he could book appointments online.

27. The Health Service Commissioners Act prevents us from conducting an investigation unless we are satisfied that the complaints process has been used and exhausted. This means we expect an organisation to have been given the opportunity to formally respond to an issue before we would consider it.

28. It is important to note there was no mention in the complaints to the Practice that Mr H was unable to secure GP appointments for his daughter via telephone. As Mr H has not raised this part of his complaint with the Practice, we will not be considering it further.

29. The BMA guidance says when a GP Practice reaches full capacity, it is crucial to prioritise patient safety and well-being. It should implement a robust triage system to assess the urgency of each case. Non-urgent cases can be redirected to other services such as community pharmacies, NHS 111, or walk-in centres.

30. We can see Mr H complained to the Practice in June 2025 about not being able to book GP appointment via the NHS App for his daughter. Mr H again asked for access to its online service so he could book future GP appointments online.

31. We can see the Practice responded to Mr H’s complaint July. It confirmed that he could not have access to its online service, as this would breach the mothers request to keep her personal information confidential.

32. The Practice’s actions here appear to be in line with the Practice’s guidance and the NHS England guidance. The Practice have explained to Mr H that it is not possible to provide him with online access to book appointments, because he would then have access to the mother’s personal information.

33. We can see the Practice also explained in its complaint response to Mr H that without online access he can still contact the Practice by phone to make an appointment while his daughter is in his care. It went on to explain that as he lives outside Sheffield, urgent care would be with a service local to him, such as a walk-in-centre or a local A&E department. It again confirmed not having online access does not prevent him from accessing these services.

34. The Practice’s actions here are appear to be in line with The BMA guidance. It has explained to Mr H that he can contact the Practice by phone to arrange a GP appointment. If Mr H’s daughter requires urgent care, then he can take her to a service local to him, such as a walk-in-centre or a local A&E department.

35. We understand Mr H is upset because he could not book GP appointments for his daughter. We acknowledge how worrying this was for him when his daughter was unwell. We also recognise not being given access to the online service is causing him frustration and distress.

36. Based on the evidence we have considered, we have not seen any indication of a failing in the Practice’s actions here. The Practice have explained why it is unable to provide Mr H with access to its online service, as this could potentially breach confidentiality of the mother’s personal data. It has also explained to Mr H how he can access other NHS services, without needing access to the online service.

Summary

37. In summary, based on the evidence we have considered, we have not seen any indications of failings in the actions of the Practice. In reaching our decision, we must consider relevant guidance and if it appears the guidance was followed. In this instance we have seen the Practice appears to have acted in line with all the guidance as set out above.

38. We acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for Mr H. We understand these events have caused him upset and frustration. As we have seen nothing to indicate the Practice got anything wrong, we will not be taking any further action on this complaint. We hope our work will being some reassurance to Mr H about his concerns.

1. We have carefully considered Mr H’s complaint about a GP Practice in Sheffield (the Practice). We were sorry to hear Mr H’s concerns about the service he received from the Practice. We recognise he has been through a difficult and distressing time and that his concerns remain ongoing.

2. We have reviewed all the relevant evidence. We have seen no indication that anything went wrong in the actions the Practice took. We recognise Mr H may be disappointed by this decision. We hope this statement will help him understand how we reached our decision.