Wes Streeting unveils plans for ‘patient passports’ to hold all medical records

Wes Streeting is to unveil plans for portable medical records giving every NHS patient all their information stored digitally in one place on Monday, despite fears over breaching privacy and creating a target for hackers.

The health secretary is launching a major consultation on the government’s plans to transform the NHS from “analogue to digital” over the next decade. It will offer “patient passports” containing health data that can be swiftly accessed by GPs, hospitals and ambulance services.

New laws are also set to be introduced on Wednesday to make patient health records available across all NHS trusts in England. It will speed up patient care, reduce repeat medical tests and minimise medication errors, he said.

The digital data bill will standardise information systems across the NHS, making it possible to share electronic records across all parts of the service, and bringing them together in a single patient record on the NHS app.

Streeting moved to allay patients’ fears over “big brother” oversight of private records, telling the Guardian that they would be “protected and anonymised” as the government pursued new technological opportunities.

He also defended the government’s plan to transform healthcare in England by working with big tech and pharma companies to develop new treatments, saying he would get the “best possible deal” for the NHS.

The health secretary told the Guardian the development “will mean the NHS can work hand in hand with the life sciences sector, offering access to our large and diverse set of data”.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2024

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