NHS Number limitations confirmed

The National Patient Safety Agency has confirmed that community pharmacists, community nurses and other groups of NHS workers will be unable to meet the national requirement to use the NHS Number from the end of this week.

The NPSA said it accepted that dentists, optometrists, community pharmacists, community nurses and ambulance staff in England would not be able to comply with all the recommendations of the NHS Number Safer Practice Notice “because all or most will not be able to access or search for NHS Numbers."

The agency said affected NHS staff could comply with some of the recommendations in the Safer Practice Notice and that it wanted them to prepare for the time when they would have access to NHS Numbers.

A 'clarification statement' from the NPSA, NHS Connecting for Health and Informing Healthcare says that affected groups should use the NHS Number where it is available in correspondence with patients. 

It also says they should help patients to find out more about their NHS Number, for example by displaying the CfH leaflet on the NHS Number.

The guidance also says that when a health organisation receives correspondence without an NHS Number from a healthcare organisation that can access or search for the NHS Number, it should request the NHS Number from the sending organisation.

The Safer Practice Notice issued by the NPSA in September 2008 requires all health organisations in England and Wales providing primary, secondary and other types of care to use the NHS Number as the national identifier for all NHS patients from 18 September 2009.

Last month, EHI Primary Care reported that the NPSA was expected to confirm the exemption from full compliance because of current lack of access to the Personal Demographics Service or Welsh Demographics Service for some groups of users.