Patients Know Best - frequently asked questions

For more information visit our log in or register for PKB page

Yes! You can securely access your outpatient letters and hospital appointments electronically via the NHS App.

The NHS App already allows you to see your vaccinations status, order repeat prescriptions, book and manage GP appointments, get health information and advice, view your NHS Number and view your GP health record securely.

The service, which is completely free, links your hospital information from Patients Know Best in the NHS App, allowing you to view your hospital outpatient appointment letters and appointment details.

Find out more about PKB integration with the NHS App

If you have been a patient at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, you will receive an invitation to register for PKB by either email, SMS text message or posted letter.

This invitation will include invite and access codes that you will need to complete registration.

Find out more

No, you do not need an invite. You can register for PKB using your NHS login.

Find out more on our log in or register for PKB page

You can access the Patients Know Best Help Manual. This provides a whole host of useful information about how to use PKB.

You can access your PKB record from any smartphone, tablet or desktop device. There’s no need to update your device or install new software.

Simply use your web browser to log in. However, either you (or your carer) will need regular internet access to receive your correspondence and to access all the features.

No, this will not affect the care you already receive from us. Instead, it’s designed to improve your care and experience, help you to be more involved in decisions, get better explanations from us and give you the tools to manage your care safely at home.

By sharing your appointment letters with PKB, it also means we can save money on postage and allocate this funding where it’s most needed.

Patients Know Best is hosted within the NHS network, so it’s just as secure as the information we as a hospital hold about you.

We chose this system because it meets the stringent 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), with PKB only having access to your NHS number. This means only you and the people you choose can access your health information.

Yes, family members and carers can, with your consent, register on your behalf. However, they should not use their own email account to do this.

If you want the family member or carer to have access to your record they can be added in the “sharing” section. This will allow them to set up their own account and allow you to control the level of access they have to your record.

Currently it is not possible for children under 16 to register for PKB or for parents or carers to be given access to a child’s record.

However, we are working on developing a process to allow children to register which includes a parent or carer also having access.

To enable this, we need to ensure that we provide appropriate designated access including authentication of the relationship between the parent or carer and the child.

Once registered, appointment information and letters will be available to you and further correspondence will start to be available within the PKB in the future.

Please note, you may still receive some written correspondence in the post until all departments in the hospital are able to send their letters this way.

We are unable to add any information until you have registered. Once you have registered, your correspondence will start to become available.

In the meantime, you can add your own information, such as tracking your symptoms or recording any allergies or medication you take.

PKB is an optional service and requires you to ‘opt-in’. It provides choice to patients who wish to interact with the hospital in a digital format - it will not affect the care that you receive from the Trust.

If you do not wish to use PKB, you can ignore the invitation and you will continue to receive your hospital correspondence in the usual way.

No, there are no costs to you as a patient as the service is funded by Mid Yorks.

We will recoup the costs through a reduction in paper and postage expenses as a result of correspondence being sent to you digitally.

Please email PKB directly

You only need to provide your name, the name of the organisation that created your account (i.e. this hospital) and a summary of the problem(s) you have encountered.