NHS England has today published the NHS Number Survey Report, a national baseline report across all Trusts on their use of the NHS Number when sharing information for direct care.

The recent “Framework for Action” report outlined the importance of the NHS Number and this survey has enabled NHS England to build, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of use of the NHS Number in direct care. This will support the move from good practice to core practice.  A number of essential improvement areas have been highlighted, with an immediate focus on local teams where the NHS Number is not used as the primary identifier within clinical correspondence, or where usage is  low.  NHS England will look to work with regional teams, CCGs, Trusts and the HSCIC to drive the widespread use of the NHS Number across care settings and to ensure that all patient activity can be identified using the NHS Number.

Further information about the NHS Number for NHS staff and patients and the public, can be found at the NHS Number page on the NHS Digital website.

For further information contact Malathi Reddy via the programme mailbox.