How to get NHS proxy access to your parent's GP services

# NHS Proxy Access for a Parent: How Families Apply

Your mum has asked you to rebook her GP appointment, order her repeat prescription, or check what was said at the last visit, and the surgery will not talk to you. That is not rudeness. The surgery protects her medical information, and the NHS has a proper route for a family member to be set up as a trusted person. It used to be called proxy access and is now often called family and carer access. This guide explains how it works in England, what to expect, and how to prepare.

What proxy access is

Proxy access means a GP surgery sets you up to use online health services on behalf of someone else. NHS.UK describes it as the surgery setting you up as a trusted person. Once set up, you manage your parent's online services, usually the NHS App or NHS website if you are both at the same surgery. If you are registered at different surgeries, the surgery that sets up the access gives you login details for an app or website.

NHS England guidance for practices describes two kinds. Formal proxy access gives you your own account and login, set up after checks and tailored to what your parent wants, and it can leave an audit trail. Informal access means using your parent's own login, which has no audit trail and carries higher security and confidentiality risks. The guidance recommends formal access wherever possible, and a patient can have more than one proxy with different levels of access. So if you have been using your parent's password, it is worth asking for a proper setup instead.

Who has to agree

Your parent. Adults aged 16 and over are presumed able to consent, so access is normally based on their own request or agreement. NHS England's guidance says the patient should explicitly consent and sign a consent form that goes into their record, and the practice should consider whether anyone is being pressured.

The surgery makes the final call. NHS.UK says it decides what access, if any, is appropriate, and can refuse for any reason if it believes access is not in the person's best interests, even if your parent asked for it. If you are turned down, ask the surgery what its concern is and whether a narrower level of access would work.

How to apply, step by step

1. Talk to your parent first. Explain what you would like to do (for example book appointments and order repeat prescriptions) and ask what they are comfortable with. Agree it before you phone the surgery.
2. Contact their GP surgery. NHS.UK says to ask for family and carer access, also known as proxy access. Phone, call in, or use the surgery's website.
3. Ask what the surgery needs. You may both need to complete a form and show photo ID. NHS England says face-to-face identity checks are preferred by practices, and NHS login can simplify checks.
4. Check the online option. Some surgeries are trialling an online application in the NHS App, sent to the surgery, where you and your parent must be registered at the same surgery. NHS England's practice guidance dated March 2025 says setting up proxy access through the NHS App is not possible in general. The sources differ, so assume you will apply through the surgery unless it tells you otherwise.
5. Agree the level of access. Ask exactly what you will be able to do and see, and get it noted.
6. Keep the login secure. Surgeries are expected to brief proxies on keeping the account secure and the information confidential. Do not share it with other relatives.
7. Ask how it will be reviewed. NHS England says practices should review proxy access regularly, including when circumstances or capacity change.

What you might be able to see and do

What a proxy can access depends on the surgery and on what your parent agrees. NHS England's guidance lists possible levels: viewing the Summary Care Record, the Detailed Coded Record, or the full GP record, and transactional services such as booking appointments and requesting repeat prescriptions. The level can differ from your parent's own and should be written in the consent form and notes. Sensitive information is usually redacted, for both patient and proxy. Do not assume you will see everything; ask for what you actually need.

For many families the useful basics are appointments and repeat prescriptions, because they take the most phone time. Seeing the record is a bigger step and may be worth discussing with your parent separately.

If your parent cannot give consent

If your parent has dementia or another condition that affects capacity, the process is different. NHS England says a GP must clinically judge whether a patient lacks capacity to consent. If so, proxy access may still be agreed where it clearly benefits the patient and the proxy has a legitimate reason. Examples given include a lasting power of attorney for health and welfare, a court-appointed deputy, or a best-interests decision under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The guidance says proxy status should be checked on the Office of the Public Guardian registers and recorded.

Practically, if you hold a registered LPA for health and welfare, bring the details when you ask. If you do not have one and your parent can still decide, that conversation matters now; see our UK Message in a Bottle and LPA checklist. NHS.UK says surgeries may grant access in a person's best interests even without these, but each decision is the surgery's.

Proxy access is not the same as being told things

Proxy access is about online services. It does not change what the hospital or a clinic will tell you in person, and it does not make you a decision-maker. If your parent is in hospital, the discharge conversation is a separate one; our hospital discharge checklist covers what to ask. And if you need their NHS number for a form, see how to find a parent's NHS number.

Keep the details in one place

Whatever level of access you get, write it down where the family can find it: which surgery, who has access, what the access covers, and where the consent form copy is. A short medical information sheet is a good home for the GP name, surgery phone number and NHS number. For the wider picture, see how to organize your parent's medical information. ParentFile is an organization tool: it helps you keep these details together and share a one-page sheet, but it does not connect to NHS systems, give medical advice, or grant access to GP records. There is a free ER sheet you can start with.

Printable checklist

• Agree with your parent what you want access to, and why
• Phone or visit their GP surgery and ask for family and carer (proxy) access
• Ask what forms the surgery uses and bring photo ID for yourself
• Ask whether your parent needs to come in, sign or give consent in writing
• Ask which services you will get: appointments, repeat prescriptions, record
• If your parent lacks capacity, bring LPA or deputyship details and ask what the surgery needs
• Ask for a formal setup with your own login rather than using your parent's
• Note the date, the surgery contact and what was agreed
• Set a reminder to review access when circumstances change