NHS Should Allow Patient Co-Authoring of Medical Records to Improve Communication and Care
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/will-parman. "NHS patients should be able to write up their own medical records – and not have to rely on Post-it notes | Will Parman | The Guardian." April 16, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
NHS patients currently struggle to communicate all their symptoms and concerns during appointments, often relying on handwritten notes that get forgotten or lost. The author argues the NHS should copy successful American systems that let patients add their own information to medical records before and after appointments, which would improve care and reduce dangerous communication gaps.
Conclusion
The NHS should implement a system that allows patients to co-author their medical records by uploading information before and after appointments, similar to the US OurNotes system or an NHS version of Intellipedia
Premises
- Current NHS communication relies on inadequate methods like Post-it notes, causing patients to forget important medical information during appointments
- 23% of NHS patients report inaccuracies in their medical records, with 83% saying these errors impacted them negatively
- The US OurNotes system demonstrates that patient co-authoring works effectively, with 97% of doctors calling patient agendas 'good ideas' and 35% of clinics reporting time savings
- Doctors interrupt patients after an average of 11 seconds, limiting patients' ability to fully communicate their concerns during consultations
- NHS system fragmentation causes dangerous information gaps between services, with coroners repeatedly warning that patients die due to poor information sharing
- Current NHS digitization efforts like Cancer 360 and patient passports fail to give patients authorship in their own treatment plans
- The US Intellipedia model shows how collaborative information systems can work across fragmented bureaucracies without requiring complete system overhaul
Assumptions
- Patients are capable of accurately reporting their own medical symptoms and concerns
- Digital systems can be made secure enough to protect sensitive medical information
- Healthcare professionals would be willing to incorporate patient-authored content into official medical records
- The benefits of improved communication outweigh potential risks of patient input errors
- Technology solutions that work in the US healthcare system can be adapted for the NHS