The idea of a single NHS patient record has the potential to be one of the most significant advances in modern healthcare. For years, we've talked about joined-up care, breaking down barriers and making the NHS work as one system around the patient. This is an opportunity to finally make that ambition a reality.
And if we're serious about getting this right, community pharmacy cannot be bolted on as an afterthought.
Too often, when healthcare reform is discussed, the conversation starts with hospitals and general practice. Pharmacy is invited in later, once the major decisions have already been made. We cannot afford to repeat that mistake.
Community pharmacy is no longer simply the place where medicines are dispensed. Pharmacists are independent prescribers, clinicians, vaccinators and trusted advisers. Millions of people walk through our doors every week, often before they've considered contacting any other part of the NHS.
We deal with minor illness, support people with long-term conditions, help patients get the most from their medicines and increasingly provide clinical services that have a direct impact on outcomes.
Yet pharmacists are still too often expected to make important clinical decisions without having the full picture.
Anyone working in pharmacy will recognise the situation, a patient stands in front of you asking for advice, however, you cannot see recent changes made in hospital, investigations that have taken place elsewhere, or the rationale behind alterations to treatment. Equally, the interventions pharmacists make every day are not always visible to colleagues in other parts of the NHS.
That isn't good enough for patients, and it isn't good enough for professionals.
Many members of the public assume their healthcare teams already share information seamlessly. They are often surprised, and understandably frustrated, when they are asked to repeat their medical history several times, explain medication changes or recall conversations they've had with other clinicians. We ask patients to carry the burden of joining the dots when the system should be doing that for them.
A truly integrated patient record would change that.
Imagine a pharmacist supporting a patient recently discharged from hospital, able to see exactly what changes had been made and why. A GP reviewing treatment with visibility of interventions carried out in community pharmacy.
Hospital teams understanding adherence concerns, medication reviews and consultations that have taken place much closer to home.
Everyone working from the same information. Everyone making decisions based on the same understanding of the patient.
The benefits are obvious, safer prescribing, better use of medicines, fewer unnecessary delays and a better experience for patients.
There is also a practical reality. The NHS is under immense pressure. Demand continues to rise, resources remain constrained and workforce shortages are a daily challenge. Every duplicated assessment, every avoidable phone call and every hour spent chasing information is time taken away from patient care. Shared records won't solve every problem, but they will help clinicians spend more time doing what they trained to do.
Of course, public confidence must sit at the heart of any new system. Patients need to know their information is secure, protected and accessed only by the professionals involved in their care. Trust is fundamental.
Alongside that, government and NHS leaders must go further to recognise the value community pharmacy brings. Pharmacists represent one of the most accessible clinical workforces in the country, with millions of interactions taking place every week in the heart of local communities. To exclude pharmacy from full integration would be to overlook one of the NHS's greatest strengths.
This is about more than technology. It is about recognising pharmacy as an equal clinical partner within the NHS.
The government's ambition to create a single patient record presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape healthcare around the needs of patients rather than the structures of organisations. Done properly, it can strengthen collaboration, improve outcomes and create a more connected NHS.
It will only succeed if every part of the healthcare team is included from the very beginning.
The future of the NHS cannot be built on fragmented systems and incomplete information. It must be built around patients and supported by professionals who have the knowledge they need to provide the safest and best possible care.
Pharmacy has earned its place at that table. Patients deserve nothing less.
(Professor Harry McQuillan is the Chairman of Numark)
