Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of a consistent child identifier for children with complex health needs.

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