Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to mandate that a Single Patient Record, for which a request for information was published by NHS England on 29 April, will be required for every NHS patient.

The single patient record will give staff in any provider access to the information they need to provide care, and would end the need for patients to have to repeat their medical history when interacting with the National Health Service.

We are currently in the early stages of considering the scope, and this includes what information patients will be able to see about when and where their record is accessed. Our engagement with the public identified the importance of there being an audit trail of access.

We will mandate its use by the NHS and social care, so that everyone has the opportunity to have a single patient record.