The new Single Patient Record will be a game-changer for clinicians and patients
4 min read
If we get these reforms right, the impact could be transformational.
The NHS is at its best when you don’t notice the gaps. When you have no sense of delay, no concerns you’ve been misunderstood, misdirected or forgotten.
When a clinician already knows your history, when you don't have to repeat the same story over and over again, and when test results, medications and treatment plans are available, whenever and wherever you receive care, that’s when you know the health system is working.
Yet for too many patients, that still isn't the reality.
Despite huge advances in technology over recent decades, records sit in different systems, medical teams do not always have access to the information they need, and patients are left carrying the unreasonable burden of joining the dots themselves.
I know personally how important joined-up care can be.
Eighteen years ago, the NHS came to my rescue when I was diagnosed with a serious and rare neurological condition that threatened my ability to run, write and speak. Thanks to the extraordinary care I received from my consultant and his team at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, I am now symptom-free.
My experiences of multi-disciplinary care and support left me with immense gratitude for our health service. It also reinforced a simple truth: the best care depends on clinicians having the fullest possible understanding of the person in front of them.
That is why the Health Bill, recently introduced to Parliament, provides for a Single Patient Record. All your medical records in one place.
At its heart, the Single Patient Record is not about technology. It is about patients and the power of clinicians to collaborate and deliver seamless care.
It will facilitate health and care information being brought together so that authorised professionals involved in a person's care have access to all the information they need, when they need it. Rather than replacing existing GP or hospital records, it will connect them, helping create a clearer and more complete picture of a patient's needs.
The benefits for patients are enormous.
For a pregnant woman attending appointments across different services, it could mean midwives and clinicians having immediate access to relevant medical history, reducing duplication, and supporting safer decisions.
For a frail older person living with long-term conditions, it could mean GPs, hospitals, community teams and social care services working from the same information, spotting problems earlier and intervening before a crisis develops.
The benefits for clinicians are just as significant.
Today, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals often have to waste considerable, precious time locating information that already exists elsewhere.
By bringing this information together, the Single Patient Record is expected to save around 500,000 hours of doctors' time each year. Estimates suggest the programme could also help prevent up to 20,000 A&E attendances and 6,000 hospital admissions annually by supporting earlier intervention and better coordinated care.
Of course, none of this can happen without public confidence. People are right to expect their medical information to be protected.
That is why strong safeguards, rigorous cybersecurity and strict controls over access to patient information are fundamental to the design of the Single Patient Record.
The Single Patient Record will be delivered through contracts with multiple suppliers, with no single supplier dominating. Joining up data across the system. Patients will also have greater visibility of their own information through the NHS App, helping them play a more active role in managing their health.
If we get this right, patients will spend less time repeating their stories, clinicians will spend less time chasing information, and the NHS will be better equipped to provide the joined-up care people deserve.
This is not simply a technological upgrade; this is patient care reform for the generations.
James Murray is the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
