Give patients access to their medical records

Online access by patients to their own medical data may be of limited value if that information is poorly structured and acts simply as a record of past events rather than as a resource allowing better health in the future. Agreeing a standardised format in terms of data architecture and coding, would enable patients to make use of their record to better inform personal lifestyle & healthcare decisions. Innovators could design and develop 'added-value' apps that were able to take this structured NHS data, combine it with health and healthcare data from a myriad of other sources (perhaps including personal activity & exercise data stored on smart phones/watches), and present the integrated output in an understandable and meaningful way. People & patients might then be better able to identify & achieve health & healthcare outcomes that mattered to them.