The NHS Modernisation Bill brought forward in the UK Parliament on Thursday 14 May will introduce the Single Patient Record, allowing fragmented health information to be joined up around the country, and will cut layers of bureaucracy so more time and money can be spent on frontline services.
The Single Patient Record will mean all NHS providers – including hospitals and GPs – will have to share data so the right doctors, nurses and specialists across England can securely see a patient’s full medical history – no matter where they are treated. Clinicians will benefit from improved access to records as early as 2027 for specialities including maternity and frailty care.
For patients, this means they won’t have to repeat their story unnecessarily. It will result in safer, more coordinated care, with clinicians having the full picture when and where it’s needed. It will support better care closer to home – joining up community services and helping people manage their conditions. Patients will also have more control over their care and transparency, with clear safeguards, audit trails, and choice over how their data is used.
For clinicians it means no more working with missing information or having to check in multiple places to find the same data, while it will mean greater efficiency and fewer costly mistakes for the NHS as a whole.
The Bill will also formally transfer NHS England’s functions into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the wider system, ensuring the NHS is there for patients when they need it, a better place for staff to work and better value for taxpayers.
The Bill will enable information related to a patient’s health and care to be processed for the purposes of establishing and operating the Single Patient Record but will be robust to the threat of data breaches with public and healthcare professionals consulted throughout its design.
Dr Alec Price-Forbes, National Chief Clinical Information Officer at NHS England, said: “The Single Patient Record will revolutionise patient care – giving all health and care professionals across the country a detailed record of a patient’s care in one place. For too long, patient information has been held in silos, leading to patients having to repeat their story multiple times in different care settings, creating the potential for duplication or gaps in understanding by those treating them – and understandable frustrations and a poor experience for patients. The Single Patient Record will be available to all health and care staff in real time, meaning patients get higher quality, safer, joined-up and more personalised care.”
Alongside enabling the Single Patient Record, the Bill (formally called the Health Bill) will reduce bureaucracy by simplifying the NHS structure, including formally transferring NHS England’s functions into DHSC and out to the wider system. Abolishing NHS England aims to reduce duplication and free up resources to be reinvested in the frontline, with less time spent on administration, and more time focused on delivering care.
Alongside this, changes will be made to streamline and strengthen the patient safety landscape, embed patient voices at the heart of national and local decision making and empower Integrated Care Boards and Foundation Trusts to deliver for patients.