UK Government to Introduce Bill for Mandatory NHS-Wide Patient Records

Legislation to create a single patient record by forcing GPs and hospitals to share patient data will be announced in the King’s Speech on Wednesday, The Times reported. The single patient record plan forms part of a £10 billion digitisation of the health service. For the first time the record will be used across all healthcare providers.

It is set to be available to clinicians in parts of the NHS as early as next year, including maternity and elderly care, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said patients were tired of repeating their medical histories at each appointment.

“As patients, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to repeat your medical history at every appointment.

When paramedics arrive to heart attack and stroke patients, they can’t see the patients’ medical records, putting them in even greater danger,” Streeting said. ” Patient Safety Minister Dr Zubir Ahmed, a transplant surgeon in Glasgow, said the present way of working was unacceptable.

In January 2026 Dr Zubir Ahmed was not able to perform a kidney transplant because he could not access the patient’s full history quickly enough on a weekend.

He described needing to analyse symptoms reported by the family to exclude cancer but being unable to interrogate GP records in detail at the weekend. Pregnant women currently go through their entire medical history in a first appointment with a midwife, relying on memory, because midwives do not have access to official records.

Dr Maurice Cohen, consultant geriatrician and deputy medical director at North Middlesex Hospital, said a single patient record would mean the NHS “wrapping ourselves around the patient rather than the patient wrapping themselves around us”.