For patient safety reasons, patients are not permitted to correspond with clinicians using the clinician’s direct email address.  All patient generated electronic correspondence with the practice must be directed through our access portal “Klinik” at www.carntocoast.co.uk which is available until 3pm daily (phone access remains until 6.30pm) for all clinical or administrative queries and practice information.  Klinik is constantly monitored throughout the day.  Any information for a specific clinician can be forwarded to that clinician or marked for their attention via these routes.  All clinical issues raised through telephone calls are also entered through the Klinik system ensuring all needs for care are managed in the same way and maintains equity of access to clinical care. 

This policy was established due to previous investigations into patient safety incidents highlighting the risks posed to patient safety where personal email accounts are used, given these are not necessarily monitored daily, particularly if that clinician were to be off work for any period of time, such as during holidays or periods of sickness.   Very importantly, should the issue be urgent and a patient’s preferred specific clinician is absent, using Klinik enables a colleague to manage that patient’s care without delay. 

All non-patient related email queries are managed through our main email account carntocoast@nhs.net which is also monitored regularly throughout the day.  Correspondence by other means e.g. written letter will be processed by the administration team and recorded in the clinical record for the attention of the appropriate clinician.

Upon receipt of a direct email to a personal email account from a patient, all clinicians/staff are instructed to respond with a copy of this policy statement, and to advise the patient that their email address will be blocked as a safety measure with immediate effect so that any future requests by the patient should generate an ‘undeliverable’ message back to that patient, ensuring they are immediately aware that their email has not been seen and to address their issue through the routes described above. 

This approach safeguards both our patients and our team and is not there to prevent patients communicating with their preferred clinician.   This policy is in accordance with professional guidance from GMC and Medical Defence Organisations.

Senior Management Team

Carn to Coast Health Centres