NHS England has launched a consultation on plans to create a single source of healthcare data in England to improve the quality of care for patients.

The consultation is part of the Acute Data Alignment Programme (ADAPt).

The plans would mean that NHS-funded and private healthcare activity data would be available in one place for the first time, in an attempt to provide a more comprehensive insight into the quality of treatment and care across both the NHS and private healthcare settings.

The consultation comes after the Paterson Inquiry, which recommended bringing data on all consultant activity together in the same place. The inquiry followed the conviction of breast cancer surgeon Ian Paterson for performing harmful and unnecessary surgery on patients across both NHS and private settings.

Pilots have shown that private providers are able to submit admitted patient care data directly to the NHS and that this has a number of benefits, in particular where data on private hospital activity can be linked to information on NHS-funded care. This can provide insights such as the number of emergency readmissions following discharge from a private provider.

The consultation will run until 20 April 2023.

James Austin, director of data strategy and policy at NHS England, said: “NHS data already plays an important role in how we provide high quality patient care and monitor safety reporting systems across the NHS.

“This vision of a single repository of healthcare information, combining NHS and private healthcare, will help provide better insights and lead to improved care and treatment for all patients across both the NHS and private healthcare sectors.

“Working jointly on the ADAPt programme has enabled us to see the benefits of how this might work. We’d now like to invite healthcare professionals, patient groups and individuals to share their views by responding to the consultation.”

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