Streeting Sets out Single Patient Record Plan for England
Wes Streeting said England’s single patient record plan will require GPs and hospitals to share patient data under legislation due to be announced in the king’s speech on Wednesday. The health secretary said the system will give each person one record across healthcare providers and could reach parts of the NHS next year.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the first use would include maternity and frailty care. Streeting said the change would spare patients from repeating their medical history at appointments and in hospital, while NHS staff would be able to see records in one place.
Streeting on patient records
Streeting said, "As patients, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to repeat your medical history at every appointment" and added that the plan would be "a gamechanger" that could "save lives." He also said, "For the first time ever, the single patient record will mean patients are given real control over their care through a single, secure and authoritative account of their data."
He linked the biggest practical gain to emergency care, saying, "When paramedics arrive to heart attack and stroke patients, they can’t see the patients’ medical records, putting them in even greater danger." The department said the new system is intended to join up fragmented health information from around the country.
DHSC and NHS England
The plan sits inside a £10bn digitisation of the health service. The legislation will also scrap NHS England by 2027, shifting responsibility and ownership of patient data and forcing the sharing of information between providers.
At present, GPs are the data controllers for their patients’ records and can share them with third parties for research purposes, while hospitals handle their own data. The change would replace that split with a single record used across all healthcare providers.
Clinical access next year
Dr Alec Price-Forbes, the national chief clinical information officer at NHS England, said the plan would "revolutionise patient care across the country." The Department of Health and Social Care said the records will be available to clinicians in parts of the NHS as early as next year.
The department said public and healthcare professionals will be consulted throughout the design and that the legislation will allow information related to a patient’s health and care to be processed for establishing and operating the records. GP leaders have raised liability concerns over data errors introduced by other providers, and the British Medical Association has previously said doctors should remain in control of GP data rather than the department.
