Patient-centred care requires information to follow the patient so that it is available wherever and whenever it is needed. The NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS) will allow this to happen.

For the first time, information about patients will be mobile - as patients are themselves - and not remain in filing stores in the buildings where treatment or care has been received. This means, for example, that if someone from South Gloucestershire is seriously injured while on holiday in Cornwall, they can be treated by a local doctor with immediate access to the patient's medical records. The doctor can be informed of any drug allergies and previous treatments, ensuring that life-saving treatment can begin immediately.

The NHS Care Records Service has been developed because:

• Healthcare is now more complex to organise and provide
   
• The diagnosis and treatment of conditions is increasingly specialised and can involve groups of organisations and personnel working in co-operation
   
• Paper-based records cannot support the increasing demand for care and its more complex administration