Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2021 to Question 23078 on Pharmacy: medical records, whether (a) his Department and (b) NHS bodies plan to publish its assessments of the potential merits of giving pharmacy write access to medical records; and if he will make it his policy to hold a consultation on providing that access to pharmacies.

The Government’s plans for developing interoperable IT systems to provide read and write access across health and care settings were set out in ‘The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care’ published in October 2018. There is agreement across stakeholders that read and write access to patient records, where they are involved in the patient’s direct care, is necessary for pharmacists to play the increased role envisaged by the NHS Long Term Plan and the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.

NHSX is engaging with stakeholders including pharmacy contractors, IT suppliers and the public, including testing proposed digital solutions and considering issues such as patient consent and data security. However, there are no plans for a public consultation.