'Paperless NHS' Plan To Put Patients' Medical Details Online

Jeremy Hunt launches digital health records project alongside report claiming it could save nearly £5bn a year

Patients will be able to see their medical details online under plans for a "paperless NHS" in which digital records will be shared at the touch of a few buttons between all parts of the health and social care services, from ambulance workers to hospital consultants to care homes for elderly people.

Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary will launch the project on Wednesday alongside a report claiming it could save nearly £5bn a year, after the costs are taken into account. He said it should also improve patient care and save lives.

"More importantly [than money] it can save billions of hours of time so nurses can spend more time with patients if they are not behind the nurses station trying to fill out forms," Hunt said. "And I think it can save thousands of lives. A lot of the safety problems in the NHS – people being prescribed with the wrong medication, and 'never events' where people have the wrong arm amputated – it's wrong to say technology is the panacea but it can make a big, big difference."...