Patient Records Audit
Infected Blood Inquiry · Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · Issued 20 May 2024 · Addressed to: UK Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Patient Records:
Before the end of 2027 there should be a formal audit, publicly reported, of the extent of success of digitisation of patient records in each of the four health jurisdictions of the UK, measuring at least the levels of patient access to their personal records, their ability to identify and correct apparent errors in them, their interoperability, and the confidence of health professionals in the detail, accuracy and timeliness of any record they enter, and that little material which should be recorded has been omitted. Next steps should be identified.
Infected Blood Inquiry, Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · 20 May 2024 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Government stated in December 2024 that NHS England was targeting March 2026 for frontline digitisation, with Digital Maturity Assessments ongoing and EPR surveys planned (Government Response to the Infected Blood Inquiry, Cabinet Office, December 2024).
- The Scottish Government stated it was committed to patient access to records and planning a new national personalised digital health and social care service (Government Response to the Infected Blood Inquiry, Cabinet Office, December 2024).
- The recommendation requires a formal publicly reported audit by end of 2027. No such audit has been published as of March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
NHS England's Frontline Digitisation programme aims for all secondary care trusts to have electronic patient record systems. Plans exist to publicly report findings by summer 2025. Scotland will expand Digital Maturity Assessments by 2025 for reporting by end of 2027.
UK Government · 14 May 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 15 Jan 2026 · IBCA Community Update As of 13 January 2026: 3,721 people asked to start claims, 3,546 begun process, 3,074 received offers totalling £2.47bn, 2,861 paid totalling £1.89bn. Third compensation regulations in force 31 December 2025. View source → Good Progress
- 28 Oct 2025 · IBCA Independent Review IBCA has contacted 2,215 people to begin compensation claims; 1,934 started process. £812m+ paid via Horizon Shortfall Scheme. £11.8bn committed in Autumn Budget. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.