Frequently Asked Questions
Patients Know Best is a secure online record of your health and care information that you can access anytime, anywhere via the PKB website or via the NHS App (if you are in England). You can also choose to share it with your health and care professionals, your relatives or your carers.
There is so much you can do with your record such as:
- View test results
- View documents such as letters and discharge summaries
- Send and receive messages
- View upcoming appointments
To find out more click here.
At Patients Know Best, we take great care to ensure that your data is managed securely and responsibly, allowing you to share it with your healthcare providers and carers under strict controls and conditions.
We comply with national standards for health data security and are certified to meet these requirements, ensuring that our platform aligns with NHS protocols and other regulatory frameworks. Our systems are tested regularly by independent, external parties to verify that our security measures are robust and effective.
Your data is encrypted both when it is sent and while it is stored on our systems. This means that it is converted into a secure format ensuring that only you, and those who have permission, can access your information.
Our purpose is to provide a secure space for you to manage and share health information with your healthcare providers and caregivers, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
You or your health care professional can invite a carer (i.e. a friend or family member) to use Patients Know Best with you. This is useful if you need help or want someone else to have access to your record. You can also control what level of access you wish your carer to have.
For more information about carers in PKB have a look at our manual here.
Learning how to use a new online platform may seem overwhelming at first, but don’t worry - Patients Know Best is designed to be simple, straightforward and secure.
Take a look at this short video to find out more about how you can use it once you've registered. Please take a look at our user manual which contains step-by-step guidance on how to navigate through the various sections of your record.
There are a number of ways you can register for your Patients Know Best record. You can find more information and step-by-step guides to registration in our user manual.
If you get stuck at any point you can contact our support team who will be able to help you.
What you see in your record is what your healthcare provider has decided to share with you. We are working with many healthcare providers to help them give you access to your medical records however not all of them currently use PKB and not all wish to provide patients with all their medical records.
Patient medical records are not all held in one system. Some of your medical records are kept by your GP, some at the hospital, some in social care, mental health services, and community services. Each has different information and each has different and separate systems. As more healthcare providers decide to use PKB and upload more information, your record will become fuller.
Meanwhile, there are many things that you can do with your record independently, such as connecting healthcare devices like blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors and Fitbit devices. You can create care plans, track your symptoms and add as much information as you like to build up a complete picture of your health record.
Have a look at our short video here, or find out more in our Manual here.
We are sorry if you find an inaccuracy in your record.
All the information in your PKB record is sent directly from the healthcare provider connected to your record. If there is a mistake in their system, this will be reflected in your PKB record. The good news is that without having access to your PKB record, you would not have been made aware of this. PKB helps give you the patient more transparency over the information NHS trusts hold about you.
You can contact your healthcare provider directly to ask them to correct their records or reach out to our Support team with the details and they will contact them on your behalf contact our support team.
PKB is an independent company founded by our CEO Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli. As a social enterprise driven by a clear social purpose, we are proud to be a recognised B Corporation. This is a new type of enterprise which uses business as a force for social good.
Read more here.
PKB is a medical record for the patient. We receive and share the patient’s data in many ways including via web apps, mobile apps, APIs and partner systems We started to display information to patients first with a website because this is universal and accessible -and digital inclusion is a fundamental principle at PKB.
We then integrated with the NHS App in England as this is what people most wanted in our home market. We are working on a PKB app later on after our next round of upgrades. This will be particularly useful for markets where there is no national app.
We are committed to displaying information in a clear and easy-to-understand way to suit every individual. As the most accessible system, the website remains core to our patient-centric approach.
Some hospitals choose to place a delay on test types that are considered sensitive or diagnostic. This is to allow clinicians time to meet with patients directly, if necessary, to discuss the results. More information on this can be found here.
If applied, all results for the test type will be subject to the delay, it doesn't indicate that there's anything to be concerned about with your individual results, but it may explain why they are not yet appearing in your record.
If you have a test result that has been delayed, the time and date it will be available will be displayed so you know when to check back. PKB does not send an email when the result becomes available, so it's important to remember when the result will become visible.
Please be aware that for renal test results, there should not be a delay placed on your result. If a delay is shown against the result in PKB, please share the details with us so that we can offer further assistance.
If you have any concerns about your results, please contact your GP or clinical team.