National Care Records Service

The National Care Records Service (NCRS) brings together important patient information from multiple patient systems into a single view. 

NCRS is a free, web-based application that can be used in clinical, office or mobile environments.  

NCRS helps you to: 

• access and update important patient information in one place, without switching between systems
• make safer decisions by using trusted, up-to-date clinical information at the point of care
• support direct care when a patient is outside their usual organisation or care setting
• view care plans and shared records without making manual requests
• reduce delays in care caused by missing or incomplete information
• support joined-up care by sharing a consistent view of the patient across providers
• check and record chargeable status

NCRS is for authorised users in any health or care setting, including: 

• clinicians 
• care workers 
• administrators 
• healthcare professionals, such as dentists, pharmacists and optometrists 

Upcoming NCRS pilots include:

• GP Connect: piloting access to clinical documents from various health and care settings, held by a patient's registered GP practice  
• Shortcut to Shared Care Records (ShCR): open the same patient record in a Shared Care Record, such as the Greater Manchester Care Record, directly from NCRS without needing to search again or log in 

For more information, see the NCRS Roadmap.

To access NCRS, you must:  

• have an NHS Care identity service profile

• have an NHS Care Identity Service authenticator, which can include existing smartcards  

• have a role-based access control (RBAC) role with a minimum activity code of B0264

See the activity codes associated with each NCRS feature in user guidance. 

If your organisation has not onboarded to NCRS, it should complete the new interest form.  

See the NCRS Roadmap for more information (opens in new tab).

General patient details within NCRS include:  

• name 
• address 
• date of birth 
• date of death 
• contact details 
• next of kin  
• registered GP 
• nominated pharmacy 
• NHS number 
• historic demographic information 
• Chargeable Status and Home Office information 

Clinical information includes:  

• any flags or alerts for the patient, such as a child protection, female genital mutilation or Reasonable Adjustments  
• the patient's Summary Care Record 
• links to any documents on the patient’s record 
• COVID-19 vaccinations 
• GP Connect information (available to pilot users only - see the NCRS Roadmap for further information) 

NCRS should be used:  

• where access to a summary of key patient information is required to support clinical decision making and full detailed patient records are not required  
• to complement local shared records by giving access to key patient information across ICS boundaries  
• where a local shared care record is not currently available  
• when information is not available in your local system 

The strategic intention for NCRS was set out in the Department for Health and Social Care policy Plan for digital health and care, part of the work to build core national ‘connect’ capabilities.  

This is to enable authorised health and care professionals to have a holistic experience of the health and care system, no matter where they are geographically located. 

This service is strongly recommended for all organisations that support direct care in England. 

This service is live. 

NCRS is a gold service, meaning it will be available and supported 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.