Overview

This bill aims to give patients in England and Wales ownership and access to their electronic health records, requiring healthcare professionals to maintain and share this data effectively across the healthcare system. It establishes key principles of patient data ownership, control, and consistent record-keeping.

Description

The Electronic Patient Records (Continuity of Care) Bill establishes three core principles: Ownership (patients own their data), Control (patients control access and use of their data), and Maintenance (healthcare professionals must maintain comprehensive, lifelong patient records). The bill mandates the Secretary of State to create regulations implementing these principles. These regulations will:

• Legally establish patient ownership of their medical data.
• Guarantee patient access to their data, free of charge.
• Establish a single, unified electronic health record for each patient.
• Require healthcare professionals to use a single, lifelong identifying code for each patient.
• Require healthcare professionals to consider the patient data principles when performing their duties.

These regulations will be subject to parliamentary approval before implementation. The bill applies to England and Wales only.

Government Spending

The bill does not specify any direct government spending figures. However, implementation will likely involve costs related to establishing the necessary infrastructure, technology upgrades, and staff training for managing and sharing electronic health records across different healthcare providers.

Groups Affected

• Patients: Gain ownership and control over their medical data, improving access to their information and facilitating better continuity of care.
• Healthcare Professionals: Will be required to maintain and share electronic patient records, potentially increasing administrative burdens but also improving care coordination.
• Hospitals and Healthcare Providers: Will need to adapt systems to ensure compliance with the new regulations, possibly incurring costs.
• Researchers: May benefit from easier access to aggregated and anonymized patient data for research purposes, subject to patient consent.

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