Have you ever been referred to a health or care provider and found yourself answering lots of questions about your medical history – things like what medicines you take and whether you have any allergies?

You may wonder why they don’t already have this information from your GP or other services you’ve been in contact with. The reason is because different health and care providers use different computer systems to record your details. Because these systems don’t talk to each other, organisations can’t always see the same information your GP can.

But that is all changing with the introduction of One Health and Care, a confidential NHS shared care record for the Black Country and West Birmingham, and neighbouring areas.

One Health and Care will enable professionals who are directly involved with your care to see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all local services.

This means you only need to tell your story once and those caring for you have instant access to all the information they need to treat you in the fastest, safest and most effective way.

For more information about One Health and Care, including how the NHS and its partners keep your data safe, please visit the one-health-care website.

What is One Health and Care?

One Health and Care is a shared care record for the Black Country and West Birmingham (BCWB), and neighbouring areas. A shared care record is a system that allows authorised health and social care professionals to view information about you which is held by other parts of the NHS and social care.

What information do you hold about me?

Your GP will hold a record of your visits, appointments, medical conditions, allergies and any medications you have been prescribed. In the same way, local hospitals or other services you have visited will have their own records of appointments, test results, treatments and diagnoses. If you are receiving social care services, your local council will hold details of any assessments and care plans.

Each organisation remains responsible for the information it holds about you, but, taken together, these different sets of information will allow any health or social care professional you see to have a fuller understanding of your current health and wellbeing.

Who can see my data in One Health and Care?

A wide range of health and social care professionals from the following organisations in BCWB, if they are directly involved in your care. These include:

• GP practices in the Black Country and West Birmingham
• Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
• Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust
• Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust
• Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
• The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
• Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (Social Care)
• Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (Social Care)
• Walsall Council (Social Care)
• Wolverhampton City Council (Social Care)
• West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust

Also the following organisations in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, should you need to access care in this area:

• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent GP practices
• University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
• Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
• Staffordshire County Council (Social Care)
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Social Care)
• West Midlands Ambulance Service (View Only)
• Continuing Health Care MLCSU (View Only)
• University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust

And these in Shropshire Telford and Wrekin, should you need to access care in this area:

• Shropshire Telford and Wrekin GP practices
• Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
• Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Shropshire Council (Social Care)
• Telford & Wrekin Council (Social Care)
• Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
• Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Who is responsible for One Health and Care?

One Health and Care is owned and governed by the NHS and local authorities in the participating local areas.

Why are you bringing in One Health and Care?

Shared care records are a useful way to provide you with better, faster, safer care, by allowing any professional who is directly responsible for your care to see relevant records instantly in one place, without having to wait for them to be transferred from another organisation or computer system. It also means you have to spend less time answering the same questions, like what medicines you take and whether you are allergic to anything, every time you see a new healthcare professional.

What are the benefits of allowing my record to be available through One Health and Care?

Giving health and care professionals who are looking after you access to One Health and care will:

• Reduce how often you need to repeat your health and social care history to health and care professionals involved in your care and support.
• Improve your safety: your clinicians have up to date medications and allergy information direct from the GP system.
• Improve clinical decision making, the clinician can see recent visits and also any tests requested and prescriptions issued.
• Improve efficiency, by ensuring the clinical teams have appropriate and timely access to clinical information to inform your care.

Is this a local or national thing?           

One Health and Care has been developed locally. It is already up and running successfully in neighbouring Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, and Shropshire Telford and Wrekin. The Black Country and West Birmingham will gain access to the system during 2022.

There are equivalent initiatives in other areas, and the eventual plan is to join up with these, beginning with other systems in the West Midlands, so you will be able to get the same continuity of care, wherever you need to access care.

Doesn’t everyone involved in my health and social care already have access to this information?

No, each organisation currently keeps its own record. For example, everyone who is registered at a GP practice will have a record kept at that practice. If you attend a local hospital, they will create their own record, and the same for social care services.

Currently, the only way professionals can get access to most of the information other organisations hold on you is to request it direct from each organisation.

Because many of these records are now held electronically, One Health and Care gives us an opportunity to start to bring information together in one place, to give the professionals who are looking after you a fuller picture to support all your care needs.

I live in one area but am registered with a GP in a different one. Am I included?

Patients who are registered with a GP practice in any part of the Black Country and West Birmingham will have their information included in One Health and Care, unless they raise an objection.

Those registered in Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin are already included. If you live or work in these areas, you may have already seen communications about One Health and Care when the system was launched there.

As the project expands and more partners become involved, the areas covered may also grow and expand in the future.

I have specific needs – will One Health and Care notify professionals of this so I don’t have to keep repeating myself or asking for support?

Yes. One of the key advantages of One Health and Care is the ability to set alerts on a patient’s records, so the most important information that a professional may need to know will appear on screen the moment the record is accessed. This could include details like:

• The person needs extra communication support for their consultation, such as an interpreter, or support from a Dementia Friend
• The patient has a chronic health condition or severe allergy that clinicians need to know about to plan safe treatment
• The person must not be given certain treatments for religious reasons
• There is a safeguarding alert for the patient or somebody in their household
• A palliative care patient nearing the end of their life has indicated that they do not want to die in hospital and want to go home.

Once the system is live, we will also be introducing a patient portal, so you will be able to log in via a smartphone, view your One Health and Care profile and edit some of the information held about you in real time, such as your wishes and any communication needs.

How will you prevent the information being used inappropriately?

Keeping your data safe and ensuring it is only accessed by authorised people who need to see it so they can provide safe and effective care to you, is our priority.

For any health and social care organisation to be able to keep records about you, by law they must comply with data protection legislation. All staff members in these organisations receive training on their responsibilities under the legislation.

Your record is kept on a secure database and is never shared with anyone who is not directly involved in your care. Every time anyone accesses your record, a log is kept of who they are and what they looked at. It is a serious disciplinary matter to access a person’s records without good reason.

Use of your information is governed by existing rules and regulations to protect patient confidentiality. The NHS and local authorities take data management and security of confidential information very seriously.

Information held within One Health and Care will never be made public, used for advertising, or sold. Professionals accessing your information are subject to the existing codes of conduct for NHS and local authority staff, which means they must respect patient privacy and keep all information about you safe.

For more information about how the NHS handles your health records visit NHS Choices.

Is One Health and Care a private company?

One Health and Care is the name of the electronic system being used for the Black Country and West Birmingham shared care record, it is not the name of a company or organisation. One Health and Care sits on top of the existing systems already used by local health and care providers, and it is owned and governed solely by the named NHS and local authority partners on the project.

An IT company called Graphnet, who build and maintain clinical systems to NHS organisations across the country, was commissioned to develop the system for us, but this will be handed over to the NHS on completion to upload the information so Graphnet will never have access to your data.

Will One Health and Care sell my data to third parties?

Absolutely not. Your data is the responsibility of the organisation/s responsible for your care. It is being made viewable through One Health and Care, to authorised people only, for the sole purpose of providing you with care.

Information held within One Health and Care will never be made public, used for advertising, or sold. Professionals accessing your information are subject to the existing codes of conduct for NHS and local authority staff, which means they must respect your privacy and keep all information about you safe.

Can I see my information, or could someone ask to see it on my behalf?

Yes. You have the right, under data protection legislation, to request access to any information which organisations such as NHS trusts hold about you.

This includes copies of paper, electronic and hybrid patient/client health and care records. For more information about how to view your health or social care records, please visit the relevant organisation’s website.

Once the system is live, we will also be introducing a patient portal, so you will be able to log in via a smartphone, view your One Health and Care profile and edit some of the information held about you in real time, such as your wishes and any communication needs.

Does the shared care record include sensitive information?

Some sensitive information is excluded from records available to view through One Health and Care, such as attendance at sexual health clinics, fertility treatment records, and records relating to gender reassignment.

An information sharing agreement for One Health and Care will be in place to ensure the appropriate exclusions are in place to meet legal/statutory requirements and sensitivity concerns.

What if I don't want my information to be available through One Health and Care?

You are able to object to inclusion in One Health and Care and prevent your data being viewed on the system, though please be aware that we do not recommend this.

If you do object, each organisation will only see electronic information recorded on its own system. Anything needed from other services as part of your direct care or treatment can still be shared via traditional methods such as phone, email or letter – as it is now.

Please consider carefully before raising an objection as it could mean vital information about you is not immediately available when you need health or social care support.

How do I object?

If you want to object, please speak to your GP. They will discuss the pros and cons with you, and if you still want to go ahead, they will be able to update your record and stop it being used in One Health and Care.

Please note that objecting to inclusion in One Health and Care does not prevent health and care providers from sharing information by traditional methods (e.g. phone, email) on request to help them provide you with the best care.

Please consider carefully before raising an objection as it could mean vital information about you is not immediately available when you need health or social care support.

Can an objection be raised for children's records?

A parent or legal guardian can raise an objection for a child they are responsible for and prevent their data being viewed within One Health and Care, however the age and competency of that child must be taken into consideration. The child’s GP will have input into this decision as part of their duty of care to the child.

What if I want to change my mind and reverse my objection?

If you have previously objected from One Health and Care, you can remove the objection at any time by contacting your GP, in the same way as you did when objecting. The GP can then remove the objection from their system and your information will be available to authorised professionals responsible for your care.

I’ve already opted out of the national Summary Care Record or another system – am I automatically exempt from this?

No. As it is a separate system that only shares data for the purposes of providing you with direct care, there is a specific legal basis for making your information visible to authorised professionals via One Health and Care. This means that if you don’t want your information to be included, you need to raise an objection specifically to One Health and Care. You can do this at any time by contacting your GP, although please consider carefully before objecting as this could impact the care you receive in the future.

Why does my local council need to see my health records?

Social care is provided by local councils, and NHS professionals often refer people to social care services if they have care and support needs, or if there is a safeguarding concern. Allowing all these services to see people’s information will help them work together to give people the best care.

Social care professionals will be restricted only to appropriate information in the records of those people under their direct care, for example, details of key professionals involved in that care. Social care staff will not be able to see information about anyone they are not directly responsible for.

Who does this affect?

Anyone who is registered with a GP practice in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, West Birmingham or Wolverhampton.

Anyone registered with a GP in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Shropshire, or Telford and Wrekin is already included in One Health and Care.

Can the Department for Work and Pensions or my insurance company see my Shared Care Record?

Access is strictly restricted to people who are involved in providing your health and social care. Other organisations, such as the Department for Work and Pensions or insurance companies, will not be able to view your records.

How do I complain if I think someone has viewed my record inappropriately?

If you believe someone has viewed your record without good reason, for instance if they are not directly involved in your health and social care, you should use the complaints process at the organisation where you believe the access happened. A full investigation will be carried out, as it will be possible to see exactly who has viewed your record and when.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, which can also provide advice about data protection and privacy: www.ico.org.uk.

If you have any questions that are not covered in this document please visit www.one-health-care.net for all the ways to get in touch.