Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a unique patient identifier for children to improve health outcomes.

Every child is assigned a National Health Service (NHS) number at birth or the first time they have contact with NHS services. The NHS number acts as is a unique patient identifier and is used to share information within electronic healthcare records. This contributes to improved health outcomes for children by ensuring that health professionals identify patients correctly and have access to information to inform the delivery of appropriate care.

Through the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government has committed to report on Government’s policy on information sharing in relation to the safeguarding of children, by summer 2023. The report will include an explanation of whether it is the Government’s policy that a consistent child identifier should be used across agencies.