Connecting Care Records programme

The Connecting Care Records (ConCR) programme is the successor to the Shared Care Records (ShCR) programme and is expected to complete in March 2025. 

A shared care record is a safe and secure way of bringing electronic records from different health and care organisations together digitally in one place. It joins up information based on the individual rather than the organisation.

In line with the NHS Long Term Plan1 (LTP) objectives, shared care records facilitate extensive and collaborative sharing of patient data and information across health care organisations, including social care bodies. 

The vision for the NHSE Connecting Care Records programme, through supporting the Integrated Care Board (ICB) Shared Care Records programmes, is a digitised health and care system where the health service and its users have the digital services and access to information they need to effectively manage and improve health and wellbeing. The programme continues to support this vision by ‘levelling up’ health and care, exploiting the full potential of working in a data driven and digitally integrated way. This will enable frontline clinical staff to make best use of digital technology to deliver care efficiently, effectively, and safely, reducing variations, and improving quality and outcomes.

The programme has 5 workstreams:

1. Record Sharing Strategy - target date for publication is 30th March 2024, currently in draft.
2. Levelling up - making care records more used, useful and usable - increased breadth and depth of shared care records to a wider range of health and care settings to also include single personalised care plans.  Care Plans discovery work is in progress and is expected to be completed in January 2024.
3. Interoperability - ensuring records are available to everyone who needs them, a fully interoperable connecting care record capability to help individuals get the most appropriate and tailored care wherever they are in England.
4. Convergence of shared care records - consolidation of supplier contracts over time will increase transparency and efficiency in procurement, commercial and financial costs contractually, saving ICB time across the system. The expected completion date is March 2025.
5. Shared Care Record Sustainability post 2025 - to ensure that all ICB ShCR are fully sustainable and locally self-funding. The expected completion date is March 2025.

Expected benefits of the Connecting Care Records programme are:

• Social care can be better planned due to health and care information being available through the ICB ShCR, resulting in the avoidance of unnecessary social care packages and/or shorter care packages​
• Reduced time spent by community providers gathering information from external sources through access to the ICB ShCR. Released time will be reinvested into administrative and clinical duties​
• Reduced time spent providing information to community providers, benefitting the organisation by providing additional time for patient care and administration​
• Admission avoidance due to early intervention and continuity of care through care plan availability via the ICB Shared Care Record (for those ICB Shared Care Record without ShCR care plan access). ​
• Avoidance of ambulance conveyance to Emergency Departments because of improved access to information through ConCR national interoperability, benefitting the organisation​
• Reduced time spent gathering and collating information for patients being seen across organisation, regional and national boundaries through ConCR interoperability across England. Released time will be reinvested into administrative and clinical duties

This programme is for:

• CIOs
• CCIOs
• CNIOs
• Digital leads
• IG leads
• Benefits and evaluation leads
• Finance leads
• Comms and engagement leads

For more information, email [email protected].