National Care Records Service (NCRS)
Published on: 28th November 2022 | Updated on: 12th April 2023
The National Care Records Service (NCRS) is being introduced as a new interface available from within the Spine portal link directory to provide national patient information for health and care staff with NHS Smartcards or equivalent. NCRS will be a successor to the Summary Care Record application (SCRa) portal.
NCRS enables view of SCR information but additionally view of:
- Personal Demographics Service
- National Record Locator (NRL)
- Locally held care plans can also be included
- Reasonable Adjustments Flag (RAF)
Information within NCRS is consumable by IT system suppliers. Some items within NCRS can be amended by health care staff, for example the RAF.
Authorised health and care professionals can access the National Care Records Service using mobile or desktop device connected to the internet using WiFi, mobile data or an existing Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) connection. The NCRS offers multiple access options including biometric authentication or smartcards. The NCRS is being piloted in different health and care settings including within Weldricks pharmacies, and wider roll-out is anticipated.
Try out NCRS now
Pharmacy professionals are encouraged to test out NCRS by going to: https://portal.spineservices.nhs.uk/nationalcarerecordsservice/ (on their Patient Medical Record (PMR) machines with their Smartcard) and dummy test patient NHS numbers are available to allow practice/training 999 040 2132, 999 025 2955 and 999 024 0272. Professionals that have tested NCRS can complete this 3-minute CP ITG NCRS feedback snap survey (or email it@cpe.org.uk).
Further info
Read more at:
Return to the Pharmacy IT hub; Records hub; or IT a-z index
For more information on this topic please email it@cpe.org.uk
