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 introduce a universal transferrable record for people with learning disabilities under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Our 10-Year Health Plan will transform the National Health Service, shifting care from analogue to digital. We know that patients, including those with a learning disability, often have to tell their story at every appointment. The single patient record means that they will only need to tell it once. The record will improve secure access for patients and clinicians and ensure seamless treatment across the NHS. This will connect a patient’s health history in one secure place, accessible through the NHS App. Patients will get a legal right to access their single patient record by default and will be able to check their own information and alert clinicians where there are errors.

In addition, the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag was developed to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments, across the NHS and social care, wherever the person is seen or treated.

On 30 June 2025, a revised Accessible Information Standard was published. It describes how NHS and adult social care services should identify, record, flag, share, meet, and review people’s information and communication support needs. The revised Accessible Information Standard is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/accessible-information-standard/

In 2024, NHS England also published guidance on health and care passports, which are designed to be a quick and easy way to give health and social care professionals more information about people with a learning disability and other disabled people so that they can provide the right care and treatment. The guidance on health and care passports is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/health-and-care-passports/