Patients Know Best (PKB)

Patients Know Best (PKB) will be our new online patient system that consolidates patient data from various healthcare providers and makes it available in a single, secure personal health record. Once fully launched, this free portal will allow you to view parts of your personal health information digitally and share it with people who will need it to help care for you, aiming to enhance your overall patient experience.

To begin with, only basic information about patients aged 16 years or older will be added to the PKB system. This includes name, title, date of birth, gender, and NHS number. This will be followed by upcoming appointment details and in-patient discharge summaries. This process will take several weeks, so you will not have access to all this information in PKB just yet and we will let you know once more information has been added.

If you have pre-registered for PKB, or have used the portal with another healthcare provider, you will receive an email notification from PKB as soon as new information is added to your record. The first email will say that your record has been connected to a new team called “Patient Records Team.”

Using the portal is entirely optional and operates on an 'opt-in' basis. Whether you choose to use the portal or not, the quality of care you receive from us will not be impacted and we will continue to communicate with you in the same way that we do currently.

Rest assured, all your information within PKB is securely stored within the NHS network, with instant notifications alerting you whenever there’s new data available for you. We chose PKB because it meets the strict NHS requirements for health record systems and is fully compliant with the Data Protection Legislation 2018. All personal and health information is encrypted (or coded) so that PKB only has access to your NHS number, which is non-identifiable. Only you and the people you choose can access your information. This means PKB cannot see or access your personal or health information - they simply host it.

Log in via the NHS App using your NHS login, or through the online portal using any web browser on any device.

You might receive an invitation from us to register for PKB, either by email, SMS text message, or a posted letter. If you've been a patient with us in the last five years and haven't received your invitation yet, you can register using this link.

While we're working on adding information to the portal, you can get started setting up your PKB account and navigating it's features. These include manually inputting your own data, tracking your medications and allergies, and logging your health measurements, and much more.

We are working with our teams to understand how the additional functionality that PKB offers can be used within outpatient specialist services. We will be gradually rolling these out to improve the care you receive.

Please refer to the comprehensive PKB manual located within the portal or at https://manual.patientsknowbest.com/patient.

The manual offers detailed guidance on a wide variety of topics and functionality. Short-cuts to the guidance that we think you will find most useful is below:

• Using NHS Login to access PKB and viewing PKB via the NHS App
• Setting and resetting passwords
• Changing your email address associated with your PKB account
• Sharing your record with a family member, friend, carer or professional
• Email notifications

If you cannot find the guidance you need, or if you have any concerns, please contact our PKB support team at mseicb-bb.pkbsupport@nhs.net.

Please refer to the comprehensive PKB manual located within the portal or at https://manual.patientsknowbest.com/patient.

It's of utmost importance that we maintain accurate and up-to-date records for our patients. Please contact mse.pkb@nhs.net if you come across any inaccuracies in your records. We kindly ask that you include your NHS number in this email so that we can identify you in our databases.