Dear Mr Shah

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Progress since November 2022

As a Hospital Group, we have made significant progress in improving clinicians' access to primary care information:

• Northamptonshire Care Record (NCR) This is now available at NGH, providing clinicians with access to GP data including medications, allergies, diagnoses, and lists of GP consultations. This has single sign-on integration from our clinical system (Nervecentre) into NCR and this element is currently in final testing and expected to be available within weeks, removing the need for separate logins.

• GP Connect This is now available at NGH, providing structured data from GP records including medications and allergies.

• Summary Care Record Was available at the time but only contained basic demographic and allergy information. All the information in the SCR has been moved into the NCR and it has been suprceeded by it.

These improvements mean that clinicians now have significantly better access to primary care information than was available in November 2022.

Limitations and the national context

We are working within the national boundaries of what is currently achievable in terms of being able to access general practitioner consultation notes and free text entries within primary care. We share the views of our clinicians that such access would benefit patient care, but there are currently significant national barriers to overcome before this is possible:

• The national roadmap Unfortunately, full GP free text consultation notes are not currently within the scope of national programmes for shared care records (including the National Record Locator and Shared Patient Record workstreams). The data currently shared comprises structured fields rather than narrative clinical entries.

• Information governance Direct read access to GP clinical systems (EMIS and SystmOne) has been explored previously in Northamptonshire. This requires individual data sharing agreements with each of the 66 GP practices in the county, plus consideration of practices across county boundaries whose patients attend our hospitals. Previous attempts to negotiate these agreements did not progress. Additionally, 20% of Northamptonshire patients are registered with practices using EMIS rather than SystmOne, and any solution would need to ensure equitable access for all patients.

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In working within the above constraints, we are committed to maximising the information available to clinicians and our ongoing work includes:

• We aim to complete by the end of February 2026, single sign on integration from Nervecentre to the National Care Record (NCR), enabling seamless access;
• By the end of March 2026, we will raise the requirement for GP free text access with the National Record Locator and Shared Patient Record Programme Boards;
• We are continuing to work with Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board to explore options for enhanced data sharing within primary care;
• We are ensuring that Accident and Emergency Department attendance summaries and discharge notifications from NGH are shared with the NCR to improve information available in other care settings. We will review progress during June 2026;

We note that whilst digital solutions can significantly improve information availability, they cannot entirely replace clinical communication. The option for clinicians to contact a patient’s GP directly for information remains available and is standard practice where there are concerns about incomplete information. This is also the business continuity process when digital systems are unavailable, when a patient has opted out of data sharing or when a patient may be unable to communicate clearly.

I trust that the above information and progress to date demonstrates the substantial improvements to primary care information access since November 2022. I acknowledge that full GP consultation notes remain unavailable and that achieving this would require national actions on data standards and information governance frameworks. I can provide assurance that we will continue to advocate this through the appropriate national forums.

We remain committed to doing everything within our power to ensure clinicians have the information they need to deliver safe, effective care.

Dear Mr Shah,

Thank you for the Regulation 28 report of 28/01/2026 sent to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care about the death of Akhona Moyo. I am replying as the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State with responsibility for data and technology.

Firstly, I would like to say how saddened I was to read of the circumstances of Akhona Moyo’s death and I offer my sincere condolences to their family and loved ones. The circumstances your report describes are concerning and I am grateful to you for bringing these matters to my attention.

The report raises concerns over (1) A lack of electronic access to primary care medical notes (2) A lack of detailed entries in the Northamptonshire Care Record.

I agree that ensuring health and care professionals have access to a single source of digital information about the patients they are treating and caring for is vitally important to delivering the best care possible. The Department of Health and Social Care, and NHS England have programmes of work underway which should assist in preventing future deaths connected to this issue.

The Single Patient Record (SPR) will unify patient data from multiple sources into one easy- to-access platform for patients and clinicians. The SPR will bring together fragmented pieces of information, creating a single source of truth which improves care quality, reduces administrative burden, empowers patients and enables more effective use of health data for both care delivery and research. A single source of patient information will ensure that clinicians are able to view a patient’s test results and diagnostic activity among other patient alerts, which will prevent important patient information from being missed by clinicians.

The SPR is designed to harmonise with existing data systems being used by healthcare professionals which will allow them to access the SPR through their existing clinical systems. Seamless data sharing through the SPR will significantly reduce administrative burden for clinicians. The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan specifically commits to saving NHS staff an estimated 140,000 hours annually. This will free up valuable clinical time for clinicians to focus on direct patient care.

I hope this response is helpful. Thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention.