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Older people rely heavily on health services that are safe, efficient and, above all, joined up. And that reliance is disproportionate compared to the rest of the population for reasons of age, frailty, and living with chronic conditions. In this light, the Government’s NHS Modernisation Bill, which was introduced in May 2026 and is currently making its way through Parliament, should be good news for advocates of healthy ageing. 

The Bill will introduce a unified Single Patient Record (SPR) that will enable GPs and hospitals across the NHS to securely share patient data, and give patients themselves access via the NHS App. In the digital age, this all makes sense. Combining the Single Patient Record with virtual care could save money and claw back clinical time as well as reducing unnecessary visits to A&E, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

But while few dispute that sharing data in this way will have a dramatic effect on reducing errors and duplication in the system, much of the current debate has been about who owns and manages the data, the risks involved, and the implications for privacy and security. These are important issues but should not, in my view, obscure the potential gains on the frontline of healthcare delivery.

What has been missing from the debate are those real-life scenarios of use – what happens, for example, when you have real-time access to a SPR when you are a paramedic team speeding to an emergency in an ambulance. It could be game-changing. I was part of a joint Royal College of Art/Imperial College London research group which anticipated precisely this scenario more than a decade ago when we were commissioned by the NHS to redesign the London ambulance interior.

In order to understand the complexity of the emergency ambulance service, our designers joined ambulance crews on several 12-hour ride-outs. The London Ambulance Service seconded an experienced emergency care practitioner to join the design team. Groups of paramedics were then invited to evaluate a range of different design proposals that we mocked up in a full-scale test rig made of cardboard and foam.   

What emerged from the study was a new prototype ambulance interior featuring several innovations in the patient space, some of which have subsequently been taken up by vehicle producers. Ergonomic improvements included placing the stretcher centrally to enable 360° access to the patient; providing large skylights that bring more natural light inside the ambulance; and improving infection control with the use of curved, easy-to-clean plastic surfaces borrowed from studying yacht design.

But what really got people excited was a novel digital diagnostics and communications system which anticipated giving paramedic crews much better access to patient records.  This meant ambulances could be stocked in advance with modular treatment packs for specific emergencies (such as burns, allergies or maternity). This approach to stocking the ambulance with equipment tailored to the exact needs of the patient – rather than simply stuffing the vehicle with generic kit for any medical eventuality – was heralded as a breakthrough.

The big problem at the time was that access to a single digital patient record, which could be flashed up on screen inside an ambulance, did not exist. But flash-forward 15 years and the picture is now different. Today, as the Single Patient Record looks set to be enshrined in law, the scenario is no longer just of conceptual value but highly deliverable too. This means delivery of emergency healthcare can become more precise and coherent – the mad ambulance dash to the latest trip or fall by an older person is accompanied by greater clinical knowledge about the individual.

Data privacy matters, of course it does. But so does the dignity and wellbeing of the older person who relies so heavily on having a joined-up health service in an emergency.     

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Abouth the Author

Jeremy Myerson is Professor Emeritus in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing.

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