Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps have been taken within the NHS to ensure compliance with the Records Management Code of Practice.

On 8 July, NHS England issued new guidance concerning unlawful access to patient records, including advice for information governance professionals on how their organisations can prevent and monitor unlawful access to records, and the steps they should take when it is identified. This also includes guidance for patients on the safeguards in place to protect their records, and what to do if they think their data has been accessed inappropriately. The new guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/preventing-unlawful-access-to-patient-records/