The Single Patient Record (SPR) is fundamental to the Government’s mission to create a modern, joined-up NHS which puts patients at the very centre of their care. We are now in the ‘test and learn’ phase (through Autumn 2025), exploring and testing potential approaches to delivering an SPR service in a safe, secure, and user-centred way.

At the heart of that mission are three ‘shifts’ to achieve its aims:

• hospital to community
• sickness to prevention
• analogue to digital

SPR plays a pivotal role in driving the digital shift, and as announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in October 2024, the SPR will be:

“A single patient record, owned by the patient, shared across the system, so that every part of the NHS has a full picture of the patient.”

In July 2025, this was enshrined in the 10 Year Health Plan. As the plan states: for the first time ever, patients will be given real control over a single, secure and authoritative account of their data and a single patient record to enable more co-ordinated, personalised and predictive care.

The SPR will provide a single version of the truth across care settings. It will unify patient information from across the NHS, giving both patients and professionals secure access to a single, accurate and up-to-date record – wherever and whenever it’s needed.

It will end many of the frustrations patients shared during our public engagement. No more repeated stories. No more appointments where clinicians are unaware of what happened previously.

We will make this possible through new legislation that places a duty on every health and care provider to make the information they record about a patient accessible to that patient. We will also legislate to ensure patients have default access to their SPR. Subject to parliamentary time, our ambition is that from 2028, patients will be able to view it securely on the NHS App.

What the SPR means for patients

The SPR will be designed to:

• allow patients greater control and transparency over their health records
• end the need to repeat their medical history unnecessarily at every appointment
• make it easy to read, update, and share care plans with healthcare professionals

What the SPR means for care professionals

For clinicians, the SPR will be designed to offer:

• a clear, unified view of a patient’s history – wherever they’ve received care
• seamless access to be able to support care across all care settings, from primary, to acute, to community
• better-informed decision-making and reduced administrative burden
• safer, faster, and more coordinated care through a more collaborative approach, as the SPR will enable patients to read, update, and share joint care plans
• the SPR will, wherever possible, build on and connect with existing systems – such as Electronic Patient Records, Shared Care Records, and the Federated Data Platform – rather than replacing them. Source systems will remain the clinical system of record

SPR principles

The SPR will be developed in close consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. While the exact scope is still being shaped, the underlying principles are clear. The SPR will be:

• safe by design
• secure by design
• built to the highest standards of data governance
• interoperable by design, so NHS systems work seamlessly together
• cost effective

These principles will guide every part of the design process, helping ensure the SPR is built on trust, transparency and safety.

Learning from existing systems

Similar programmes to the Single Patient Record have seen great success internationally, including in Estonia and Australia. From the outset we’ve been collaborating with global partners to learn from their experiences and build on their successes.

Now we are entering our ‘test and learn’ phase, we will be doing more discovery work to establish what already exists and define the approach for the programme.

Programme overview and next steps

An NHS England programme has been established to deliver the SPR. We are in the early stages of development and are working to ensure the design meets the needs of patients, professionals and partners across the health and care system.

In May 2025, the SPR programme launched a Request for Information (RFI) to the technology market, seeking expert input on how best to deliver a secure, user-centred solution that builds on existing infrastructure.

In parallel, we are:

• engaging with healthcare professionals, representative bodies, data privacy organisations and other experts to understand collective requirements
• analysing stakeholder feedback and developing a range of design and delivery options
• determining technical requirements and aligning with other NHS digital programmes
• ensuring the SPR supports digital inclusion and meets equality standards

In July 2025, we analysed a range of technical architecture solutions to understand which are most suitable for further exploration. No decisions have yet been made on the system architecture or procurement approach.

Test and learn phase

The SPR programme is now entering a ‘test and learn’ phase, running through Autumn 2025. This is an important step in exploring how we can safely and securely join up patient information across care settings – helping to improve care, reduce duplication, and better support frontline professionals.

This phase is about testing and learning and taking a user-centred approach, not making final decisions. At its core is ongoing engagement with patients, the public, and health and care professionals – ensuring the service is designed around the needs of those who will use it. We are carrying out discovery work, user research, and engagement to understand user needs, technical feasibility, and potential benefits.

Alongside this engagement, we are building three technical proofs of concept, each using  synthetic (non-real) patient data, to explore different architectural approaches in a safe and secure way:

• Shared Care Record – Hub and Spoke: integrates existing regional Shared Care Records, linked via a central API (a secure way for different systems to connect and share information)
• Central Integration Model: a centrally managed data store for real-time access
• Virtual Data Layer: connects existing systems to provide a joined-up view at the point of accessing data

We will be working with a small number of suppliers in this phase to test the shortlisted technical approaches. The arrangements are still being finalised, but their involvement now will neither give them an advantage nor exclude them from future opportunities.

What we learn over the coming months will feed directly into the Programme Business Case – the plan and evidence that will guide decisions on how the Single Patient Record service will be designed and implemented. This will help ensure it delivers real benefits for patients, the public, and healthcare professionals.

Public engagement

SPR itself is a solution to a problem identified to us in previous public engagement activity. And maintaining public trust is essential to the success of the SPR. That’s why we are taking a patient-first approach.

More than 3,000 people from diverse backgrounds took part in public deliberations on how health data should be used. More than 1,000 of those were specifically asked to respond regarding the SPR. Their message was clear: proceed swiftly, with a system that is secure, transparent and delivers real benefits.

A full report on this engagement was published in June 2025, and you can read it here: National engagement on data: cohort 2 report – NHS Transformation Directorate

We will continue to involve the public as the SPR develops.

Further information

We are continuing to engage with patients, clinicians, suppliers, and health and care professionals as the programme develops.

If you have further questions or would like to contribute, please contact the SPR team at: england.spr@nhs.net