NHS England is planning to make a single patient record available to the public through the NHS App.
It is part of the drive to shift the health service from analogue to digital, and will be accompanied by a public consultation on changes in the NHS through a specially created website.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced the plan, saying the single patient record will pull summaries of health information, test results and letters in to one place and be available through the NHS App.
This is intended to give patients control of their medical history so they do not have to repeat it at every appointment, and to give staff a full picture of a patient's health.
The move will be supported by legislation to make NHS patient records available across all trusts, GP surgeries and ambulance services in England.
It is the latest plan in the ongoing development of the app, following recent announcements for it to include a digital health check and for public libraries to encourage people to sign up to use it.
10 Year Plan
Streeting added that the online platform – change.nhs.uk – will be available to staff and the public until early next year for people to comment on the 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS.
Its three big shifts include analogue to digital, hospital to community and sickness to prevention.
Hospital to community involves plans for new neighbourhood health centres, and sickness to prevention includes measures such as developing the potential of wearable tech for patients to self-monitor their health conditions.
Streeting said: “Today the NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history. But while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. Together, we can fix it.
“Whether you use the NHS or work in it, you see first-hand what’s great, but also what isn’t working. We need your ideas to help turn the NHS around.
“In order to save the things we love about the NHS, we need to change it. Our 10 Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints all over it.
“I urge everyone to go to change.nhs.uk today and help us build a health service fit for the future.”
