NHS looks to 'digital health records' as Streeting launches major consultation on future of healthcare

21 October 2024, 00:00

NHS patients will be able to get their health records made available to any doctor as part of a 'health passport', reports claim.
NHS patients will be able to get their health records made available to any doctor as part of a 'health passport', reports claim. Picture: Alamy

By Chay Quinn

NHS patients will be able to get their health records made available to any doctor as part of a 'health passport', reports claim as Labour launches a consultation on how to fix healthcare in Britain.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Ministers are set to change laws to allow an easy-access health record to be available to NHS workers and patients through the service's app.

Labour hopes that the changes will help NHS clinicians work faster and help patients understand their own health better as it sets out to fix issues in the health service.

The plans, reported by The Times and The Guardian, come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer launches a new consultation of patients and staff with the NHS.

Read More: Millions to receive health-monitoring smartwatches as part of 10-year plan to save NHS

Read More: Chancellor set to invest billions in NHS as part of 'biggest reform since 1948' in upcoming Budget

The consultation will help inform the NHS 10-year plan - Labour's flagship strategy to improve the ailing healthcare system.

Billed as "the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth", members of the public will be able to share their views online via change.NHS.uk until the start of next year.

The Government plans to transform the NHS into a "neighbourhood health service", shifting more care from hospitals to communities.

Stone / United Kingdom - March 11 2020: NHS app on the silhouette of a smartphone hold in hand.
Ministers are set to change laws to allow an easy-access health record to be available to NHS workers and patients through the service's app. Picture: Alamy

The plan, expected to be published in spring 2025, will also see greater use of data and technology, with easier sharing of patient data, saving an estimated 140,000 hours of staff time every year.

Announcing the consultation, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS - so I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff, and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade. But it's time to roll up our sleeves and fix it.

"We have a clear plan to fix the health service, but it's only right that we hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say and shape our plan as we deliver it.

"Together we can build a healthcare system that puts patients first and delivers the care that everyone deserves.

"We have a huge opportunity to put the NHS back on its feet. So let's be the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and made it fit for the future."

Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged the public to "help us build a health service fit for the future", saying he wants NHS staff and patients to have their "fingerprints all over" the 10-year plan.

He said: "When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has for so many people across our country. We all owe the NHS a debt of gratitude for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have a chance to repay that debt.

"Today the NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history. But, while the NHS is broken, it's not beaten. Together, we can fix it."

London, UK. 20th Oct, 2024. Wes Streeting, Health Secretary of the United Kingdom, Labour Party MP for Ilford North, is seen at the BBC for the Sunday morning media round. Credit: Imageplotter/Alamy Live News
London, UK. 20th Oct, 2024. Wes Streeting, Health Secretary of the United Kingdom, Labour Party MP for Ilford North, is seen at the BBC for the Sunday morning media round. Credit: Imageplotter/Alamy Live News. Picture: Alamy

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said it was "vital" that the service "innovates and adapts" as it faces "an unprecedented number of challenges".

She said: "The 10 Year Health Plan is a chance to make the best practice, normal practice across the country.

"So, we will be carrying out the largest ever staff engagement exercise in NHS history and leaving no stone unturned as we seek to harness frontline views, alongside those of patients and the public, to ensure this happens.

"It is your experiences - good, bad, and sometimes frustrating - that we need to help shape this once in a generation opportunity, so please get involved."

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the Government to show "ambition" in its plans, or risk the consultation "becoming a talking shop".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addresses a press conference at the British Embassy in Berlin, Germany. Picture date: Friday October 18, 2024.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addresses a press conference at the British Embassy in Berlin, Germany. Picture date: Friday October 18, 2024. Picture: Alamy

He said: "We know that primary care services across the country are at the brink of collapse due to the Conservative Party's disgraceful neglect, with patients paying the price.

"Whether it is sky-high GP waiting lists, endless ambulance response times, or a failure to diagnose cancer in time, none of these issues can be fixed without fixing the crisis in social care.

"That is why the Liberal Democrats will make sure that social care is part of the debate and push for a cross-party solution to this crisis."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Poland blames Russia for causing massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw last year

'We will get you all!': Poland blames Russia for causing massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw last year

The number of employers expecting to increase staff numbers in the next three months has fallen to a record low outside of the pandemic, new research suggests.

Number of employers expecting to hire staff in short term falls to record low, as 1 in 4 expecting to make redundancies

Child on woman's shoulders collecting shells on a beach on a rough day in the UK.

Applications open today for 30 hours government-funded childcare expansion

Wegovy...

Weight loss injections may have powerful anti-cancer effect, research suggests

International Nurses Day Marked In China

NHS programme to prevent brain injuries during childbirth to be rolled out

25 people have been injured at a pitch invasion at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany

25 football fans hospitalised - one with life-threatening injuries - after pitch invasion

'No motor vehicles' signs and a 'rain garden' mark a modal filter in the Oval to Stockwell 'low traffic neighbourhood' in Lambeth, South London.

London council earned £1m in fines from illegal low traffic zone in just six months

A child has sadly died after a minibus overturned on a motorway slip road in Berkshire

Tragedy as child dies after minibus overturns on motorway slip road

Toby Jones, Monica Dolan and Sir Alan Bates on stage with the Limited Drama Award for 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'

Fight is 'not over yet', say writers of Mr Bates Vs The Post Office as gripping real-life drama wins Bafta

Varda Ben Baruch holds photos of her grandson Israeli- American hostage Edan Alexander as she walks near Israeli soldiers during a rally of families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip at Nir Oz.

Hamas announces release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander in push for ceasefire

Among regular drinkers, intake decreased by 68%, from 23.2 units a week to 7.8 units a week.

Weight loss jabs could help cut amount of alcohol drank by obese people by two thirds, new study suggests

Alan Cumming is hosting the 2025 BAFTA TV awards

David Tennant, Jessie J and Billie Piper stun on Bafta red carpet

Exclusive
Regent's Canal at Mile End Lock

Man, 38, arrested on suspicion of assault in connection with 'body slamming' incidents along East London canal

Greater Anglia, British Rail Class Stadler 755 bi-modal multiple unit passenger train arriving at Ipswich railway station, Suffolk, England, UK

Lines blocked after train collides with car on level crossing

Donald Trump is urging Ukraine to agree to meet with Russia in Turkey next week for direct talks

Zelenskyy offers to meet Putin after Trump urges Ukraine to speak with Russia 'immediately' - in bid to end 'bloodbath'

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed onto the pitch to confront manager Nuno Espirito Santo following a 2-2 draw with already-relegated Leicester.

Furious Nottingham Forest owner storms onto pitch to publicly berate manager Nuno as Reds’ European dream dented