Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the uptake of (a) digital innovation and (b) patient data systems within the NHS.

NHS England is working closely with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Accelerated Access Collaborative to improve the process for uptake of innovative digital health technologies in the National Health Service. This includes working with healthcare professionals and other key stakeholders to understand what matters to them.

The Federated Data Platform (FDP) is being rolled out to all trusts and integrated care systems which wish to use it, to bring together data in different local systems, to allow better co-ordination of care to patients. All trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) are being asked to provide plans for how they will maximise the benefits of the NHS FDP for their patients in the next two years.

The Shared Care Record programme set the target that by the end of September 2021, ICBs across the country would have a basic shared record in place. As of March 2022, all 42 ICBs in England have at least a basic shared care record.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has announced the intention for there to be a single patient record that both empowers patients by giving them access to their records and gives professionals access to the information they need to make the best-informed decisions when delivering care and treatment. We have begun engaging with the public to help shape our plans, including what information they would want to see included in a single record.