DHSC set to become data controller for GP data provided to single patient record 

The Department of Health and Social Care is likely to become a data controller for GP patient data once this gets added to the single patient record, Pulse understands. 

Pulse understands that GPs will remain the data controllers for the patient data they input into their own local systems, but DHSC is likely to also assume controllership when that data is shared with the single patient record. 

DHSC also told Pulse that GP practices who share data with the single patient record will not be responsible for liability associated with onwards sharing of the data from the record, for example with third parties for research purposes.

Via the single patient record, patients may be able to view details such as correspondence between GPs and specialists related to advice and guidance (A&G) requests, Pulse was told.

As announced in the King’s speech earlier this month, the Government is pushing forward with NHS reforms including introducing the single patient record as part of the health bill, which will have its second reading in Parliament today.

The BMA said it ‘remains unclear’ what form the single patient record will take and if it will build on existing technologies, such as GP Connect, which already opens up the GP record to NHS organisations offering direct care, or if it will require ‘a wholesale duplication of existing health records’ with control of this copy given to Government.

GPs and patient data experts have already raised concerns that the bill gives the health secretary sweeping powers to patient data with private companies, researchers, and across all parts of the NHS. 

They have also criticised the bill for seeking to ‘create an offence or other civil sanctions’ to force holders of patient data to share it with the single patient record. 

The bill will ‘require holders of patient data’, including GPs, to share the data to create the single patient record with both ‘people other than a patient on the patient’s behalf’ and ‘people involved in the provision to patients of health care or social care anywhere in the British Islands’.

The single patient record will initially cover data from primary and secondary care, expanding over time to include services such as adult social care. 

As revealed by Pulse, NHS England had previously said that it would not be ‘appropriate’ for GPs to act as the data controller for the single patient record.

The Government announced today that it estimates the single patient record would ‘save doctors around 500,000 hours a year’. 

Promoting the Health Bill, DHSC said the single patient record ‘will give clinicians across the country a complete view of patients’ medicines, allergies and prescribing history, allowing them to deliver safer treatment and saving the taxpayer more than £20 million per year in unnecessary medicines expenditure.  

It also predicted that the single patient record will save the NHS ‘more than £20m a year’ by ‘reducing medication errors, adverse drug reactions and duplicate prescribing’. 

‘It will also save doctors around 500,000 hours a year by having patient data available on the spot and reducing the amount of time spent searching for information and inputting data which they will be able to spend on treating patients instead of admin,’ DHSC added.  

DHSC clarified these ‘benefit projections’ are estimates that were ‘undertaken at a relatively high level reflecting the early stage of programme maturity and therefore subject to change’. 

According to DHSC, by March 2027, clinicians in England will benefit from improved access to records for at least 80% of patients through the connection of existing shared care records, and from 2028, all patients in England will have access to a ‘core set of their data’ through the single patient record, viewable through the NHS App.

The Government has not decided yet on the technical solution which will be used for the single patient record, but it said no single tech company will be sole supplier for it and that it will not make additional demands on providers to ‘digitise’. 

BMA GP committee deputy chair Dr David Wrigley said: ‘While the idea of a single patient record and today’s headlines from the Government may sound appealing to patients, GPs, as the long-time and dedicated custodians of patient data, have some real concerns around what it means for security and confidentiality.

‘GPs have protected patients’ confidential records since the inception of the NHS in 1948 – a legal duty that they take incredibly seriously. However, we need clarity that this important GP oversight will not be taken away, otherwise it will raise serious questions about who is safeguarding patients’ data.’

He said that the Government make sure that this law does not open up possibilities for patient data to be used ‘inappropriately’ for purposes that patients ‘would not reasonably expect’ and that existing high standards of data governance and protections continue to apply to promote public confidence that their data is held safely and handled with respect.

He added: ‘Ambitions to address fragmentation, improve productivity and reduce bureaucracy are laudable, but they cannot come at the price of undermining confidentiality and public trust.

‘As family doctors, we take our responsibility for patients’ private and sensitive health information incredibly seriously, and it’s vital that these concerns are not brushed under the carpet by a Government intent on steamrolling ahead chasing headlines and soundbites.’