Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any concerns about risk to personal safety and security have been identified by the expert safeguarding group reviewing the implementation of NHS App.

The Government wants people to be able to have access to their own records if they choose to do so. There is widespread international consensus about the benefits to patients and the effectiveness of the health system in providing digital on-demand access to personal health information.

For most, online record access is beneficial, but for a minority, having access could cause harm or distress. NHS England is taking an active approach to ensuring safe and secure patient record access, seeking to identify and provide additional protections to vulnerable people if they request access to their medical records online.

NHS England has engaged extensively with at-risk groups, professional bodies, patient groups, charities and safeguarding leads to support general practice and patients in preparing for this change safely and effectively. Communication packs have been provided to over 50 charities that support at-risk individuals. NHS Digital has published guidance in an online-only format for organisations, Supporting victims and survivors of domestic or sexual abuse, to support people when accessing their personal health information online.

Before viewing their record in the NHS App, users are advised what to do if they are being pressured to share their information. Patients can prevent access by disabling their National Health Service login with a simple online process or can ask their general practitioner (GP) for the details of specific consultations or treatment decisions to be redacted. When an individual first requests access, they cannot see information already recorded; they will only be able to access information recorded from that point onwards.

The expert safeguarding group has identified theoretical risks, which have fed into NHS England’s patient and GP communications packs and advice, messaging on the NHS App and NHS.uk and improvements made by GP IT system suppliers.

More than 23 million patients have viewed their records over nine million times, with no significant incidents relating to personal safety or security reported. Lower-level incidents, such as people finding out their diagnosis before being told by a clinician, have been reported, and some issues have been investigated and classed as low-risk and/or resolved.

NHS England continues to monitor this and would take action if an issue was identified or raised.