"Vague and unhelpful on-line medical record information"

Following a GP visit I checked my on-line medical information as held by the online Patient Access portal.

Under the section - Medical record – Problems, was a description of my visit (only available to the patient) For my visit the record said; ‘Had a chat with patient’. I won’t go into details but essentially I was concerned about the recent evaluation I had done by the surgery regarding my risk of a heart attack over the next 10 years. My point is, why can’t the medical record I view be more informative and helpful. What is the point of recording in my on-line patient notes I had a chat with the doctor? It would be more helpful for instance to say something like; patient assessed as having a xx% risk of heart attack – discussed options.

It seems to me that recording accurate information on-line is essential, if only to confirm a true record of the problem. I am left wondering what exactly did the doctor record on my file and was it accurate. The reason I checked my record was I was not entirely happy with the consultation and the online description just made things worse. In my view, when it comes to healthcare, recording accurate information is fundamental to the providing the best care possible.