Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to reduce patient notification errors due to NHS bodies having different communication systems.

We are committed to creating a technology infrastructure that allows systems to communicate securely, using open standards for data and interoperability. This will enable health and care professionals to have access to the information they need to provide care. Effective technology supported by interoperability can reduce patient safety errors.

Interoperability and openness is one of the guiding principles set out in, ‘The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care’, published on 17 October 2018.

We are also investing in the development of Local Health and Care Record Exemplars (LHCRs). These will allow local areas to ensure data is collected consistently and made available to support joined up and safer patient care. LHCRs will give health and care staff better and faster access to vital information about the person in their care as patients move between different parts of the National Health Service and social care system. The first five Exemplars cover 23.5 million people and will each receive up to £7.5 million over two years.