Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 10 June (HL392), whether regulations establishing the Single Patient Record operator as a data controller will restrict its powers strictly to direct patient care, or whether central processing will be permitted for secondary purposes, research, or commercial access without local GP data controller approval.

Under the Single Patient Record (SPR), patient information will still be held in the system where it was originally created, such as in a general practice (GP) surgery or hospital. These bodies, GPs and hospitals, will continue to be responsible for ensuring health data is handled securely, lawfully, and accessed for valid reasons only.

The Department is currently undertaking a national programme of deliberative engagement events with GPs and practice managers to help shape implementation of the SPR, and we will continue to work with stakeholders, including clinicians, to understand how best to support them in using the data in the record effectively to improve outcomes.

As set out in NHS England’s guidance on amending patient and service user records, current policy already enables patients to request amendments to their health record. This will continue to be the case for the SPR. We will agree a protocol with health and care professionals as to how information will be updated, and the SPR will provide a technical basis for rectification of errors in line with this policy.

Regulations made under the powers in the Health Bill cannot affect the ability of clinicians to make decisions about patient care and cannot make any provision relating to secondary uses of data. The regulations can only make provision relating to data being shared with patients, or with professionals involved in patient care.