Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that mental health trusts pass information on outpatients in their care to local (a) housing trusts and (b) community police officers where appropriate.

It is already standard practice for health professionals to share information, in line with the Data Protection Act 1998, with other agencies to deliver preventative interventions, or where there is concern about the risk of serious harm to either the individual concerned or a third party.

One of the core objectives of the National Informatics Board is to support all National Health Service organisations move away from paper based information to sharing data electronically. NHS England’s work on developing a fully interoperable and paperless NHS includes a key focus on mental health and crisis care.