Health staff switching to improved NHS patient record service

Health and care professionals are being encouraged to move to the new version of an NHS patient record service to enhance the way national patient medical information can be accessed.

The National Care Records Service (NCRS) will replace the Summary Care Record application (SCRa) when it closes at the end of September 2023.

The previous system SCRa is currently used by over 15,000 organisations and 115,000 health and care professionals to securely access patient medical information at the point of care. It is built on older technology and is not aligned with the more modern working practices of health and care professionals.

NCRS improves the way staff can access patient records. It can be used in clinical, office or mobile environments over the internet, as well as via the Health and Social Care Network.

The free, web-based service has been specially designed for better internet-first connectivity, making it more compatible with mobile devices in modern healthcare settings.

Sign-in methods have also been upgraded to include secure biometric log-in, Microsoft authenticator, as well as using existing physical and virtual smartcards.

Stephen Koch, Executive Director for Platforms at NHS England, said: “The new NCRS has been created with both mobile and internet technology in mind, to better meet the needs of modern healthcare settings and meet accessibility standards in a way the previous system was unable to.

“By working closely with end users, we have designed the new service to provide a quick and secure way to access national patient information to improve clinical decision-making and healthcare outcomes for patients.

“We’ve taken steps to ensure the switch over to NCRS is as quick and simple as possible and hope users will take this opportunity to join the thousands of other health and care staff who have already switched to the new system to benefit from the new features available.”

Services accessed by NCRS will remain the same, enabling health and care professionals to still search for patient NHS numbers using the Personal Demographics Service, access patient Summary Care Records, and view Child Protection information.

Extra features will mean they can now also retrieve care plans through the National Record Locator and view Reasonable Adjustments flags.

Existing smartcard credentials and access rights will also continue to work on NCRS.

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is among the many healthcare settings who have already switched over to the NCRS.

Donna Flatt, data quality manager at the Trust, said: “The process of switching over to NCRS was quick and easy. It has a nicer appearance and is easy to navigate. NHS number retrieval is also quicker and easier, with a copy button next the NHS number. It supports our clinical teams to effectively treat patients using up-to-date and accurate information.”

Simon Parton, head of ICT systems and applications services at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, added: “NCRS offers a better user experience in terms of improved navigation, making it easier and enabling more efficient ways of working.

“The whole switching process was seamless causing no disruption to service. It is a much-needed enhancement and improvement to what was already a very useful digital tool, offering only benefits for Trusts.”

All users of SCRa are required to switch to the National Care Records Service (NCRS) before 29 September 2023 to continue accessing national patient information services. 

Further information on NCRS service including its benefits is available on the website.

You’re invited to share your views on the updated draft data access policy, which outlines the development of the policy and strategic decisions around external data access. It builds upon the secure data environment policy guidelines published last year.

The draft data access policy update is intended for a technical audience, such as data controllers, data users and platform providers. Please send your feedback by 23 June 2023.

Innovation and expertise in cyber security in health and social care were celebrated at the CAN Awards 2023 last night.

The awards, which are organised by NHS England, commend members of the Cyber Associates Network, a group of over 2,000 cyber security experts.

The virtual awards were held to recognise innovation within public-sector health and care cyber security and celebrate the incredible work being done to help protect and maintain patient safety.

Recognising the contributions to cyber security in the NHS, the awards covered a range of individual and team categories. The winners and highly commended are as follows:

Cyber Leader of the Year

• Steve Mapleston, NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Cyber Newcomer of the Year

• Thomas Magnusson, NHS Blood & Transplant

Cyber Team of the Year

• Better Security, Better Care National Team

Women in Cyber

• Catherine Watts, Mersey Internal Audit Agency

Diversity in Cyber

• Cyber Security Team, NHS Blood & Transplant

Individual of the Year

• Paul Baxter, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Innovation in Cyber

• Katie Thorn, Digital Social Care

CAN Contributor of the Year

• Chris Archer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Outstanding Achievement Award

• Katie Thorn, Digital Social Care

Highly commended:

Cyber Leader of the Year

• Michelle Corrigan, Better Security, Better Care
• Tony Cobain, MIAA

Cyber Newcomer of the Year

• Mark Bell, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Cyber Team of the Year

• CSOC Threat Intelligence Team, NHS England

Women in Cyber

• Kim Hobday, NHS England

Diversity in Cyber

• Nawshad Hossain-Ibrahim, NHS England

Individual of the Year

• Barry Richardson, NHS Blood & Transplant

Innovation in Cyber

• Craig Kilgour, NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit

CAN Contributor of the Year

• Martin Price, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
• Julian Knight, NHS England

The CAN Awards were set up to celebrate those who work in cyber security to protect the health service from cyber-attacks, and to support organisations across the NHS with advice, assessments and training.

Katie Thorn, winner of the Innovation in Cyber Award and the Outstanding Achievement Award, said: 

“I was delighted to find out that I had received the Innovation in Cyber and Outstanding Achievement awards. I work closely with the social care provider sector, supporting them with data and cyber security and contextualising this in the wider digital transformation agenda. I’m amazed every day by the passion in the sector and want to thank the rest of the team for their ceaseless work to support care providers.

“I would also like to congratulate all of the other award winners and extend sincere thanks to everyone involved in running the Cyber Associates Network.”

Mike Fell, Executive Director of National Cyber Security Operations, said:

“I am delighted to be a part of the Cyber Associates Network Awards and to share my appreciation of the hard work that is being done throughout the health service to manage and improve cyber security.

“I’d like to applaud all of those who were nominated for this year’s awards and wish a huge congratulations to the winners as well as those who were highly commended in the CAN Awards 2023. Recognising innovative approaches to cyber security and sharing our expertise is vital to help improve patient data safety across the NHS.

“The Cyber Associates Network is a great network to share expertise whilst learning from each other and I would encourage anyone involved in cyber security in the health and care sector to join.”

More details on how to become a member of the Cyber Associates Network are available on the NHS England website.

GP practices using the Register with a GP surgery service save up to 15 minutes per patient registration. The service is free for GP practices and patients to use, and is now available on the NHS App.

More than 1000 practices are now using this service, with more than 270,000 registration forms successfully submitted. We’ve created a dashboard to show how many practices are enrolled at a practice, regional or national level.

Our resource hub has more information, and you’re welcome to join our webinar on 14 June.

Procurement of a federated data platform continues to progress and we expect to award a contract this autumn. Once implemented, the platform will sit above existing IT systems to connect data across different NHS organisations in a safe and secure environment.

Learn more about what this means for trusts and integrated care systems, and stay updated about the procurement process. You can contact england.fdp@nhs.net for more information.

Be part of NHS Secure Boundary, a perimeter security solution offering NHS organisations protection against security threats. Contact our team to find out more and sign up for the service.

We are thrilled to announce the shortlist for the upcoming Cyber Associates Network (CAN) Awards to recognise and celebrate those working in cyber security.

The winners will be announced at a virtual awards ceremony tomorrow at 4pm and will highlight the innovation and digital expertise that help protect patient care and data across the NHS.

In January 2023 we sent a survey out to organisations involved in developing healthcare software to ask them for feedback on integrating with our APIs. We have improved in some areas but more work is needed in others.

Read the full survey results.

Mark Burton, Lead Delivery Manager for the Spine Futures programme, explains why we’re accelerating the migration of Spine services into the cloud and why we need NHS organisations and healthcare suppliers to support the move.

Emergency registration allowed Registration Authorities to verify someone’s identity using video calls.

This was put in place when face-to-face identity checks were not possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. It ended on Wednesday 31 May 2023.

There are now 3 ways to verify an identity:

• Electronic Staff Record (ESR) – if your organisation has the RA workbench enabled
• Apply for Care ID
• an in-person, face-to-face appointment