The Single Patient Record: The next frontier of digitally-powered health

The Single Patient Record (SPR) seeks to consolidate data into one unified system, supporting the right care in the right place at the right time through relevant, holistic information. In a health system underpinned by the SPR, data could flow like water across and between all levels – individual, local, and national.

While 90 percent of NHS Trusts use electronic patient records and almost all GP surgeries keep digital records, local siloes limit system-wide data-sharing. They also make it difficult for individuals to understand (let alone update) their own health data. The answer? The Single Patient Record (SPR).

The SPR is a single, secure, and authoritative digital health record that aims to give people control over their own data, with the ability to update and share this data as they choose. It needs to represent more than a simple data sharing system or a shift in data ownership. It must provide healthcare professionals, carers, and individuals with access to all health data in one place – enabling a holistic, transparent view to improve health and social care coordination, personalisation, and clinical outcomes across all care settings.

The national adoption of the SPR would signal a paradigm shift for the NHS that improves individual health outcomes, reduces overall health system demand, and streamlines local care pathways. Enhanced with AI and predictive modelling, the SPR could transform personal health management and clinical care through real-time insights – unlocking health intelligence to create a complete view of individual and population health.

As digital maturity grows, the SPR will enable a move towards proactive, collaborative, and more efficient care. However, previous Shared Care Record programmes show that attempts to ingest data into one platform face challenges around ownership, quality, and permissions. To overcome these hurdles, the SPR needs to be accessible, local, holistic, and secure.

Make it accessible

Empowerment sits at the heart of a digital, preventative, community-based health system. The SPR aims to provide a seamless view of rich data, including information such as test results, screening history, and vaccinations. To increase uptake and engagement, it should be rolled out as a platform for citizens, not just patients. This supports digital prevention by moving healthcare out of reactive environments, and encouraging a pre-emptive, proactive mentality.

People consume information in different ways and in different levels of detail, necessitating multiple formats, channels, and access options – from language to textual display. Data needs to be presented clearly, with easy navigation and explanations for clinical terminology, empowering people to see data as truly theirs.

Professionals will need to navigate a shift in interactions, especially when non-standard data sources such as wearables come into play. Individuals will still look to frontline staff for support, but the breadth of information available will change the therapeutic relationship between people and professionals.

Make it available locally

England’s 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) navigate the unique population health needs of their local area using local data. The quality of this data is crucial, sharpening their ability to pinpoint challenges and target relevant solutions. The SPR brings disparate data together, aiding local interventions. This data – and the results of interventions made as a result – can then be fed to the national team, flagging patterns to inform central directives. Through consistent, consolidated access to data, the SPR would make data-sharing far easier across individuals, local teams, and national decision-makers.

The SPR will be instantly available by anyone with a smartphone through the NHS App. Of course, not everyone will be able to access the NHS App. They may need their own carers or local professionals to be able to show and explain their data to them, necessitating flexibility. Crucially, given the sheer scale of community and social care in each local area, the SPR needs to be able to span local apps and services from GP clinics to health-related charities.

National initiatives such as the SPR are far more effective when they complement local infrastructure and platforms, ensuring alignment. A key public sector example is the Health and Safety Executive’s creation of the Building Safety Regulator following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. We worked with the regulator to develop a centralised, digital registration service for high-rise residential buildings, forming the first comprehensive register of high-rise building safety responsibilities.

Make it holistic

Initially, the SPR will need to pull data from core healthcare data sources including GP records, e-prescriptions, and hospitals’ electronic patient records. But health data doesn’t exclusively live in NHS systems, and not all of it is digital, highlighting the need for audits of local health data. Much of this data is trapped in siloed local systems and databases, and, increasingly, consumer health products. Data from wearable devices and health tracking apps will provide a wealth of new information to support personalised treatments and care pathways. It could also be an opportunity to enable private treatment to be shared when accessing national health services.

Ultimately, the SPR must unify clinical, social, and consumer health data into one trusted source for truly personalised care. Real-world case studies show that this is more than possible. In the healthcare space, we worked with the National Institute for Health and Care Research to consolidate studies across platforms, formats, models, and organisations, bringing together 14,000 continuously concurrent records to provide a fuller, more accurate view of research.

Make it secure

The SPR will enable data from diverse sources to drive better health outcomes. But there are obvious privacy and security risks, calling for tighter controls and consent. The imperative is clear: keep patient data secure, and protect organisations from breaches or cyber attacks.

To enable the SPR to underpin system-wide transformation, it must be collaborative, While led by NHS England, it will involve multiple stakeholders across the health and care ecosystem. By mandating the application of secure by design principles from design to roll-out and adoption, NHS England can create an SPR that is fit for the digital future. Importantly, all potential users need to know which safeguards are in place and take the right actions to keep data secure.

Alongside public engagement, a secure SPR relies on collaboration with industry. Stakeholders involved in the development, roll-out, and enhancement of the SPR will need to meet the same cyber security standards, and operate to the same expectations. This requires the NHS to mandate standards for data security, access, and usage that earn – and maintain – public trust.

The next era of healthcare

The SPR offers professionals, regulators, individuals, and advocates the chance to consume health data in fundamentally new ways, and take insight-driven action as a result. It represents a centralised, consolidated source of truth for health data at individual and population level. Not only can it support personalised, community-based health – it can drive forward digitally-powered prevention in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.

With the right engagement and approach, the SPR will underpin a more intelligent, patient-centred, preventative health system, helping to achieve a digitally-powered, human-centred NHS.