MPs to Debate Government Plans for Single NHS Patient Record

Plans for a single patient record for the NHS in England will be debated for the first time by MPs on Monday. The system aims to combine GP, hospital and social care data so patients do not have to repeat their medical history at appointments. The single patient record forms part of the NHS Modernisation Bill, which also includes the abolition of NHS England and the scrapping of Healthwatch.

The Department of Health and Social Care published projections suggesting 20,000 fewer patients a year will have to go to A&E thanks to the single patient record and other reforms. The reduction is assumed to come from fewer patients wrongly diagnosed because of lack of access to records and more frail elderly treated in their communities.

Paramedics will be able to see full information on a patient they are blue-lighting to hospital under the new system.

The single patient record will be made available on the NHS App and the new system would be rolled out from 2027. In some parts of England there is already limited shared data access, but the new plan is designed to ensure consistency across the whole system. A&E clinicians often cannot access GP patient records under current arrangements.

One surgeon had to cancel a kidney transplant because he could not check the patient's history quickly enough over a weekend. Pregnant women have to go through their entire medical history from memory at their first midwife appointment because midwives do not have access to official records.

Carers will be able to find out up-to-date information on a patient's treatment and medication under the planned new system.

James Murray replaced Wes Streeting as Health and Social Care Secretary in May. Murray said it will be crucial to have strict legal safeguards in place for the single patient record. He said it can be distressing for some patients to have to repeat their medical history to different professionals.

"We will make sure only specified people can access the data and there will be an audit trail of exactly who has accessed the data," Murray said. "There will be strong cyber security protections for it as well. " Murray told the Today programme the Palantir contract was being reviewed ahead of its break point next year.

He said the single patient record would be operated in a very different way, where there will be contracts with many different providers. Dr Deb Gompertz of the British Geriatric Society said older people are among the highest users of NHS services, often receiving care from multiple teams across hospitals, community services and primary care.

She said better sharing of information has the potential to improve continuity of care.

Officials say GPs will save time because they will be able to find information about their patients more quickly. Dr David Wrigley, deputy chair of the BMA's GP committee England, said he had real concerns about what the plans would mean for confidentiality.

He said GPs have protected patients' confidential records since the inception of the NHS in 1948, a legal duty that they take incredibly seriously.

Helga Pile, head of health at public services union Unison, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the concept of a single patient record is something that all staff working in the NHS can see the benefit of. She said it is really important that the single patient record is done in the right way so that matters about who is involved and how it is done.