Backlash over UK's patient passport plan for NHS digital revolution

Warning over data misuse as Prime Minister Keir Starmer says struggling health service must move from analogue to digital

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to members of staff of the UK's Ambulance Service during a visit to East London. AFP

Britain's plans to use "patient passports" to modernise its struggling National Health Service has prompted a backlash over concerns about digital privacy.

The UK government on Monday launched a consultation on the future of the NHS, with health bosses looking to turn to wearable technology such as Fitbits and digital apps to help reduce waiting times.

Speaking at a launch event in east London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the NHS must go from "analogue to digital" by allowing patient records to be shared across hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulance services.

So-called single patient records, also described as patient passports, will summarise all of an individual's health information, test results and letters in the NHS app, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

The proposals will save an estimated 40,000 hours of NHS staff time every year by creating quicker access to relevant data.

The department said it wants to "explore the opportunities smart watches and other wearable tech may offer patients with diabetes or high blood pressure" so patients can monitor their health from their own home.

No 10 Downing Street said individuals’ information will be protected by robust safeguards from exploitation by private companies.

During interviews to promote the plan, care minister Stephen Kinnock said the government was "committed to protecting data" and that the current system was "not conducive to the most modern cyber security techniques".

From left, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and chief paramedic of the London Ambulance Service Pauline Cranmer. Getty Images

He described the government's plans as "no different to online banking apps" and "definitely more NatWest than it is Star Trek".

"In the end, if we don't modernise the NHS, make it more efficient and productive, you can have the best data-protection rules in the world, but you're not going to have a health and care system that actually works," he said.

A representative for patient privacy campaign group medConfidential said: "Patients should know how data about them is accessed and used, and their choices to opt out of such uses should be respected not removed. [The] government may end up sacrificing NHS patients on the altar of economic growth."

During the launch of the consultation, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the "analogue NHS" needs to shift to become a system that is "not just benefiting from, but driving the revolution in data, life sciences and med tech".

The NHS was currently experiencing "the worst crisis in its history", he said, citing issues of people unable to access their GP, slow ambulance times and lengthy waits for hospital beds.

“That is, I’m afraid, the daily reality in the NHS today”, Mr Streeting said. Some people were receiving a "death sentence" because they were being given a prognosis too late, he added.

He urged NHS staff and patients to take part in the “national conversation” by sharing their views online at change.nhs.uk until the start of next year.

“We feel really strongly that the best ideas aren’t going to come from politicians in Whitehall,” Mr Streeting said.

Earlier this year, a report by Lord Darzi concluded the NHS was in a "critical condition", with increasing waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health.

The Prime Minister said: “I know the last 14 years have been really, really hard. We have had austerity, we haven’t had the right money and resources.

“We have had a reorganisation of the NHS that made no sense and made things worse, then had the burden of Covid and everything that followed after that. Frankly, you deserve a lot better than that.”

No 10 said no life science firms or researchers outside the NHS could access to any individual patient record. Data shared for research would be anonymous and would have to pass "robust ethics principles and governance panels to ensure patient safety and privacy", it added.