en.Wedoany.com Reported - The UK government has proposed a new bill requiring GPs and hospitals in England to securely share patient information. The bill, which will undergo its second reading on Monday, also includes plans to abolish NHS England and transfer its functions to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
James Murray, who succeeded Wes Streeting as Health Secretary last month, stated that the new system must be "built in a way that people can absolutely trust." Murray emphasized that data security is a core concern, and strict legal safeguards must be established when building the system in the future. He said audit trails will precisely record who accesses data, along with robust cybersecurity protections.
Core measures of the bill include creating a single patient record for everyone receiving health and social care in England. This record aims to consolidate key personal care information in one place, allowing clinicians to view medical history, medications, and past treatments, preventing patients from repeatedly providing the same information. The government stated that combining single patient records with virtual care could reduce emergency department visits for frail patients by approximately 10,000 per year. By reducing misdiagnosis, another 10,000 emergency visits could be avoided, saving doctors about 500,000 hours annually.
The DHSC predicts that hospital admissions will decrease by 6,000 per year due to avoided emergency visits, improved heart failure management, and better mental health care. Heart failure is a long-term condition where the heart cannot pump blood around the body as effectively as normal. In terms of costs, the estimated annual savings of £20 million will come from reducing medication errors, adverse drug reactions, and duplicate prescriptions. Medication errors may include giving patients the wrong drug, dose, or combination of drugs. Adverse drug reactions are harmful or unintended responses to medications.
Maternity and frail care are expected to be among the first areas to benefit in 2027. NHS providers, including hospitals and GPs, will share data to facilitate healthcare professionals' access to patient medical histories. The government says this change will help integrate community services and support long-term disease management. Social care records, as well as records from private healthcare providers working on behalf of the NHS, will also be included.
Patients will have more control over their care, including security safeguards, audit trails, and choices about how their data is used. Currently, GPs are data controllers for patient records and can share them with third parties for research purposes. When GP records are shared with the new system, the DHSC is likely to become the data controller. The British Medical Association has called for doctors to retain control of GP data, with its GP committee warning that removing data control from GPs could damage trust and pose confidentiality risks.
The government says the system will have built-in security and privacy protections, allowing people to see who has accessed their single patient record, with existing clinical protocols defining what information can be shared. The bill will also abolish NHS England, transferring its functions to the DHSC to cut bureaucratic layers, and introduce reforms linked to the government's ten-year health plan, including measures related to the Dash review, involving the Health Services Safety Investigations Body and Healthwatch. The legislation is expected to support more local decision-making through integrated care boards and provider organizations. Additionally, the virtual hospital model NHS Online is planned to launch in 2027, offering planned specialist care through the NHS app, aiming to provide the equivalent of 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
