Police Missing Person Search

1 votes

There would be significant efficiency benefits to Police having the ability to search a missing persons name against hospital admissions. This would save Police calling hospitals and busy hospitals having to answer those calls. This is information we routinely share already, but in a less efficient way for all parties.

Under consideration api Suggested by: Colin (22 Nov, '21) • Upvoted: 22 Nov, '21 • Comments: 2

Comments: 2

24 Nov, '21
Tony Heap Admin
This is a great idea, a clear use case with a clear benefit. I have discussed it with colleagues within NHS Digital, NHSX and NHS England and Improvements, and there are a number of challenges. Firstly, commissioning/funding - NHSE/I are very much focussed on healthcare outcomes for patients, not police outcomes. There is a time-saving benefit to hospital staff - probably not enough to justify the spend - so the funding/sponsorship would need to come from the police. Secondly, privacy - getting agreement to share patient data is especially fraught. It's true that this information is already being shared over the phone, but getting agreement to share it digitally is probably a whole other ball game. Thirdly, feasibility/amount of work - hospital appointment data isn't available centrally, so there would need to be a co-ordination across hospital system providers to get them all to make the info available in a standard format. This is do-able but it's a big undertaking, both in terms...
24 Nov, '21
Tony Heap Admin
...of defining and agreeing the standard and also rolling it out. So, a lot of challenges! It might be more achievable at a local level, perhaps with the regional ICS (Integrated Care System) where the concept of an SCR (Shared Care Record) is starting to take hold. For example, see https://www.kentandmedwayccg.nhs.uk/about-us/who-we-are/ICS/kent-and-medway-care-record#:~:text=What%20is%20it%3F%20The%20Kent%20and%20Medway%20Care,NHS%20or%20social%20services%20in%20Kent%20and%20Medway. I'm going to mart this suggestion as "Not planned", not because I don't think it's a good idea, but because I don't think we can drive it forward from our end - sorry!