We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been chosen to lead a consultation for NHS England to explore how person characteristics are used in clinical decision making and improve how they are recorded in care records. A new approach will ensure that health records fully reflect the diversity of individuals and give them greater control over their healthcare information, including how it is shared between clinical settings. This project aims to make care safer, more inclusive, and more effective by enabling seamless, standardised data sharing across NHS systems.  

Better records mean better care. By capturing the right information, clinicians will have quick access to critical details that can lead to faster, more informed decisions. People will no longer need to constantly repeat their health histories, and clinicians will be able to focus on what really matters: providing the best possible care.   

We will also be addressing critical gaps. While some data relating to person characteristics is already collected in NHS systems, it is often gathered for secondary purposes, such as population-level analysis, and lacks the granularity needed for clinical care. For example, ethnicity data may not capture the specific information required to inform diagnosis or assess medication efficacy for individual patients. In the case of transgender people, manual workarounds are sometimes required to make sure that they are invited to national screening programmes appropriate for their sex-specific health risks. 

A new approach will tackle these challenges, reducing risks, and ensuring that information such as sex and gender identity is accurately reflected without compromising safety or dignity.  

Working in partnership with the Federation for Informatics Professionals and closely with a diverse stakeholder community, including LGBTQ+ groups, health and care professionals, system suppliers, and patient representatives, we aim to develop a standardised approach to making healthcare more inclusive, efficient, and person-centred. 

The person characteristics covered in this work include age, disability and impairment, gender identity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race and ethnicity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

Find out more at https://theprsb.org/personcharacteristics/.