Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 20 February 2026.
Andrew Snowden
Opposition Assistant Whip (Commons)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the risks to patient safety arising from hospital records not being fully shared between different NHS trusts.
Zubir Ahmed
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
Appropriate information sharing is essential to delivering safe and effective health care. Improving this will enable enhanced quality of care and safety for patients and better informed clinical and care decision-making empowered by access to precise and comprehensive information.
NHS England has been supporting National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts in acquiring and developing the effectiveness of their electronic patient records and supporting them to reach an optimum level of digital maturity which will further reduce barriers to the sharing of information needed to treat patients.
By 2028, a new single patient record will end the need for patients to have to repeat their medical history when interacting with the NHS. By providing a complete, real-time view of patient information across regions and care settings, it will significantly improve clinical safety and performance.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
