NHS England pushes forward with plans to implement single patient record

NHS England is pushing forward with plans to implement a single patient record, and is currently testing different models, it has announced.

A planned single patient record (SPR) which will make patients’ data visible to clinicians across different care settings is in a ‘test and learn’ phase, according to the commissioner. 

The Government has previously said it would introduce new legislation placing a duty on providers, including GP practices, to make the information they record about patients available to them.

Plans for the SPR were trailed by health secretary Wes Streeting last October and formally announced this year as part of the NHS 10-year health plan, which confirmed the SPR would be available to patients via the NHS App by 2028. 

Now NHS England has confirmed that the test phase will run through the autumn and culminate in a ‘programme business case’ and that the SPR would ‘provide a single version of the truth across care settings’.  

It said: ‘For the first time ever, patients will be given real control over a single, secure and authoritative account of their data and a single patient record to enable more co-ordinated, personalised and predictive care.

‘It will unify patient information from across the NHS, giving both patients and professionals secure access to a single, accurate and up-to-date record – wherever and whenever it’s needed. 

‘It will end many of the frustrations patients shared during our public engagement. No more repeated stories. No more appointments where clinicians are unaware of what happened previously.’  

It said the testing phase would explore three options for how the SPR would be built: 

• Shared Care Record – Hub and Spoke: integrates existing regional Shared Care Records, linked via a central API (a ‘secure way’ for different systems to connect and share information); 

• Central Integration Model: a centrally managed data store for real-time access; 

• Virtual Data Layer: connects existing systems to provide a joined-up view at the point of accessing data. 

This phase of the SPR’s development would include ‘working with a small number of suppliers’ to test the three models.  

In an NHS England meeting last month, Ming Tang, its chief data and analytics officer and interim chief digital and information officer, said a resultant SPR ‘prototype’ would likely be ‘ready for review by the end of the year’. 

The Doctor’s Association UK GP co-lead Steve Taylor told Pulse that generally GPs have been ‘cautious’ about the implementation of the single patient record ‘on the basis that we are not sure whether or not the data will be secure, how much information will be available between different sources, and whether that would interfere with some of the more complex systems’.

He added: ‘I think there’s a more broad worry with a number of access issues over data breaches, so it is important that this is incredibly secure.

‘From a GP point of view, GPs have basically built the NHS database over the last 30 years, and have been incredibly secure at doing so, so there is some concern related to it being much more open.’

NHS England would not confirm to Pulse the names of the suppliers, but the announcement said ‘their involvement now will neither give them an advantage nor exclude them from future opportunities’. 

However, it did say the ‘SPR will, wherever possible, build on and connect with existing systems’ including the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) – intended to link together data from across NHS organisations to support both planning and direct care.

Palantir – a data analytics company known for its work with US intelligence and security agencies – was awarded a £330m, seven-year contract in 2023 to deliver the FDP.

Earlier this year, the BMA passed a motion at its annual representative meeting (ARM) urging the NHS to cut ties with the company – calling it ‘an unacceptable choice of partner’ to handle patient data.

NHS England also clarified in its announcement the Government would need to pass ‘new legislation that places a duty on every health and care provider to make the information they record about a patient accessible to that patient’. 

Community pharmacies will also be linked to the SPR, as the Government said it will increase their role in the management of long-term conditions.

Subject to parliamentary time, from 2028 patients will be able to view it on the NHS App and over time it will also include a ‘personalised account’ of health risk, drawing from lifestyle, demographic and genomic data.