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22 |If you came across the broken link from another page, please email us at feedback@nhsx.nhs.uk or let us know on the @NHSX Twitter account.
23 | 24 | 25 |NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care are delivering NHSX together.
24 |These 2 privacy notices apply:
25 |We aim to make the NHSX website as accessible and easy to use as possible. We've designed our pages to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to level AA and we've tested them with users with access needs. Some external site links may not be to WCAG level AA. Should you require that information in a different format please email us at feedback@nhsx.nhs.uk
24 | 25 |If you have any questions about accessibility, please email us at feedback@nhsx.nhs.uk. We will respond within 5 working days.
27 | 28 |We'll save your settings for a year.
27 |We'll ask you if you're still OK with us using cookies when either:
28 |You can also choose which cookies we use at any time.
33 | 34 |Updated: January 2020
38 |NHSX brings teams from the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement together into one unit to drive digital transformation and lead policy, implementation and change.
23 |We are a diverse team with a range of skills and expertise, including clinicians, technologists, policy experts, developers, data scientists and project managers.
24 |We report directly to the Secretary of State and the Chief Executive of NHS England and NHS Improvement. We are funded through existing budgets.
25 | 26 |The leadership team of NHSX are: Matthew Gould (CEO), Simon Eccles, Tara Donnelly, Hadley Beeman, Kathy Hall, Iain O'Neil and Tim Donohoe.
28 | 29 |Programme teams that have joined NHSX from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care include:
31 |Find out more about the work of many of these teams on the NHS England digital transformation website.
49 | 50 | 51 | 52 |Please get in touch.
23 |We are keen to hear from everyone who is affected by the technology we use in health and care, from patients to technologists and innovators to carers to clinicians.
24 | 25 |We are currently seeking views on an NHS Digital Health Technology Standard and our tech plan for health and care.
26 | 27 |On 4 July 2019, NHSX held a listening event for innovators working in healthtech, in partnership with the Accelerated Access Collaborative, the Academic Health Science Network, the Office for Life Sciences and techUK. At the event, we asked the innovators what NHSX's priorities should be. This digital innovators summary report details the key themes that emerged and how we are responding to them.
30 | 31 |We run monthly surgeries for digital innovators to meet with members of our Digital Innovation Team. These provide us with the opportunity to learn more about you and your product; and for you to ask us for advice on issues, such as scaling within the NHS. If you would like to register for a surgery, please fill in this innovator application form.
32 | 33 |NHSX is a joint unit between NHS England and Improvement and the Department for Health and Social Care. All requests for information should be directed to NHS England and Improvement in the first instance.
37 |If your request needs information from the Department of Health and Social Care we will forward on your request. This will not impact the Freedom of Information timeframe.
38 | 39 |NHSX is a joint unit bringing together teams from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England and NHS Improvement to drive the digital transformation of care.
31 | 32 |NHSX will be engaging on a tech plan for health and care throughout Spring and Summer 2020.
35 |Whether you’re an NHS CEO, a care professional, an administrator, a patient, a health charity worker or a developer; we want everyone to have their say on how technology is used to transform health and social care.
36 |We’ll work openly with you to make sure all the essential building blocks, a clear division of labour and a plan are in place for tech-enabled care.
37 |Over the next few months we’ll publish information iteratively and in phases as we develop the plan. We’re asking for your views to help shape each section as we go.
38 |Join in the conversation or email techplan@nhsx.nhs.uk.
39 | 40 |Information about pre-existing policy and programmes remains on NHS England's Digital transformation website and Gov.uk.
43 | 44 |Standards, guidance and support for digital teams.
23 | 24 |NHSX will define strategy and set standards, for example, on:
31 |This part of the website hosts NHSX-owned content and signposts to a range of information and tools on other organisations’ websites so that it’s easy to find all the information you need in one place.
38 | 39 |Read more about NHSX's work on these 3 blogs.
89 | 90 |Information governance is all about how to manage and share information appropriately.
31 | 32 |NHSX continues to work closely with the National Data Guardian (NDG) and Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to ensure a high level of transparency for patients during this period. This example supplementary privacy notice can be used by organisations to inform patients about the ways information is being used as a result of Covid-19.
42 | 43 |You can read current examples of how data is being used to support the Covid-19 response here.
45 | 46 |This guidance provides advice for patients using mobile devices such as phones, tablets and cameras in acute hospitals. This is particularly important at this time when patients may be isolated from loved ones.
48 | 49 |The Secretary of State for Health and Care has issued a range of Notices which require that data is shared for purposes of Covid-19. Read more about COPI Notices and what they mean here.
51 | 52 |NHSX is building up information governance resources and information which we will make available here as soon as they are ready. In the meantime, if your Data Protection Officer or Caldicott Guardian is unsure of appropriate action to take, you can direct Information Governance questions to the NHSX IG team.
53 | 54 |Resources for people developing services and technologies in health and social care.
31 | 32 |To improve the way the NHS assesses technologies for use by patients and staff, NHSX is developing a Digital Health Technology Standard. This aims to help developers understand what’s expected of them, and speed up and streamline how health technologies are reviewed and commissioned for use in the NHS. Take a look at the draft standard, and then complete our short survey to ensure a robust, proportionate and attainable standard. The consultation runs until Wednesday 22 April 2020.
34 | 35 |NHSX wants to make the NHS a world leader in developing ethical and safe data-driven technologies. Find out more information on what AI is, why AI matters, what our AI lab will do and the tools and guidance we have developed to support innovators in this field.
37 | 38 |The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has worked with partners to develop a standards framework to make sure new technologies are clinically effective and offer economic value.
40 | 41 |NHS Digital's NHS developer network includes technical information, software tools, source code and data for developers who are designing and building software for use in health and social care.
43 | 44 |The digital service manual helps NHS teams design and build consistent, usable digital services that put people first. It includes:
46 |Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
28 |They store information about how you use the website, such as the pages you visit.
29 |Cookies are not viruses or computer programs. They are very small so do not take up much space.
30 | 31 |We use cookies to:
33 |Some cookies, like those used to measure how you use our website, are not needed for our website to work.
80 |These cookies can help us make our website better, but we'll only use them if you say it's OK.
81 | 82 | 91 | 92 |To find out how we collect, store and use information about you or your visit, see our privacy policy.
94 | 95 |Updated: January 2020
99 |NHSX is leading the largest digital health and social care transformation programme in the world. With investment of more than £1 billion pounds a year nationally and a significant additional spend locally, NHSX has been created to give staff and citizens the technology they need.
23 |NHSX will deliver the Health Secretary’s Tech Vision, building on the NHS Long Term Plan. We will speed up the digital transformation of the NHS and social care. We have set ourselves five missions, which are focused on how we can make things better for patients and staff. These are:
24 |Matt Hancock explains how NHSX will transform the NHS.
83 |Please get in touch.
90 |We are keen to hear from everyone who is affected by the technology we use in health and care, from patients to technologists to carers to clinicians.
91 |Let us know which cookies we can use. We'll use a cookie to save your settings.
26 |These cookies store anonymous information about how you use our website, such as what you click on.
31 |Updated: January 2020
101 |New digital apps and tools are empowering people to take control of their health and improving patient care.
31 | 32 |The Empower the Person roadmap sets out what's available now, along with delivery milestones for meeting our aim of giving people and patients the digital tools and information they need to better manage their health, wellbeing and care. (Links to an external website. Please see Accessibility Statement)
34 | 35 |You can see where we are working on Empower the Person programmes, plotted on our interactive (beta) map.
37 | 38 |Join our Empower the Person community of interest to access presentations, latest updates and discussion forums. Log in using your nhs.net email. If you don’t have one, email england.digitalhealth@nhs.net for access.
40 | 41 |The NHS website (nhs.uk) gives the public information about conditions, treatments, medicines, NHS services and more.
45 | 46 |The NHS App is a simple and secure way for people to access a range of NHS services on their smartphone or tablet.
48 | 49 |The NHS login makes it easier and quicker for people to see their personal health information online. In future, they’ll use it to access other health and social care services online.
51 | 52 |The apps library on nhs.uk helps patients and the public find tools to help them manage and improve their health.
54 | 55 |A new GP IT Futures framework will replace the contractual GP System of Choice framework, to supply IT systems and services to GP Practices in England.
57 | 58 |
Supporting the move towards a digital first approach, where patients can easily access the advice, support and treatment they need using digital and online tools, including online consultations.
60 | 61 |
NHS WiFi is working to make sure everyone can access free, secure and consistent WiFi services at NHS sites across England.
63 | 64 |A software platform that turns physiotherapy exercises into video games and helps with injury rehabilitation.
71 |An app that combines waiting times at urgent care centres with up-to-the-minute travel information to help patients decide where to go for faster treatment for minor injuries.
79 |The legal framework has flexibility when it comes to the processing of information. Information relating to the Covid-19 outbreak should be shared as needed to support individual care and to help tackle the disease through research and planning during the Covid-19 situation. The focus should be to ensure the risk of damage, harm or distress being caused to individual patients and service users is kept to a minimum and that data is only processed where it is necessary to do so and in an appropriate manner.
33 | 34 |The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse data from providers and other organisations involved in managing the Covid-19 response and then disseminate information to other bodies for the purpose of planning and managing the response. NHS England and NHS Improvement have been given legal notice to support the processing and sharing of information to help the Covid-19 response under Health Service Control of Patient Information Regulations 2002.
36 |Individual healthcare organisations, Arms Length Bodies (except NHS Digital and NHS England and NHS Improvement which have been separately notified) and Local Authorities have now also been given legal notice under the same regulations to support the processing and sharing of information to help the Covid-19 response. The notice is available here.
37 |This is to ensure that confidential patient information can be used and shared appropriately and lawfully for purposes related to the Covid-19 response.
38 |These Notices will be reviewed on or before 30 September 2020 and may be extended by further notice in writing. If no further notice is sent they will expire on 30 September 2020.
39 |Data controllers are still required to comply with relevant and appropriate data protection standards and to ensure within reason that they operate within statutory and regulatory boundaries.
40 | 41 |The GDPR allows information to be shared for individual care, planning and research. Where health and care information (which would be classed as special category data) is shared for either individual care or to help tackle the disease through research and planning then the relevant Article 6 conditions (official authority, compliance with a legal obligation, public interest and on occasion vital interests) and Article 9 conditions (substantial public interest, the delivery of health and care, vital interests or for public health purposes and scientific research) should be relied on as applicable to the situation.
43 |The principles (Article 5 of GDPR) should continue to be followed. They form a framework of good information management with the key criteria enabling justification of actions taken. If you are not certain of an issue, such as a relevant retention time, then the law is flexible enough to allow you to revisit the issue once the answer becomes clearer.
44 |If your organisation is going to process personal/confidential patient information in ways not covered by an existing Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), e.g. using videoconferencing for consultations, then a short high level DPIA should be carried out. The DPIA should set out the activity being proposed; the data protection risks; whether the proposed activity is necessary and proportionate; the mitigating actions that can be put in place and a plan or confirmation that mitigation has been put in place. DPIAs are scalable, and in some instances this might not take more than a couple of pages. The ICO has produced guidance on carrying out DPIAs and a template that you can refer to. You should also update your privacy notice where data is being processed in new ways.
45 | 46 |You can direct further Information Governance questions to the NHSX IG team.
48 | 49 |It is essential that during the Covid-19 outbreak carers, social care professionals, and clinicians are able to talk to each other and to the people they care for. You should be mindful of handling people’s information securely, but you need to make sure that you are using the communication available to you (phone, email etc) to clearly and quickly communicate with your local GPs, hospitals, community health services, local authorities, voluntary sector, pharmacists, and health services.
31 |Under the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015, it is legal to share information to support a person’s care. For Covid-19, carers, local authorities and social care providers, including care homes and domiciliary organisations, should be sharing information with the people they care for and their local GPs, community health services, hospitals, local authorities, voluntary sector, pharmacists, and health services.
32 |Use your common sense to do the best thing for your service users and people in your care. The Information Commissioner has said that she can not envisage taking action against a health or care professional clearly trying to act to save lives.
33 |The important thing, as always, is to consider what type of information you are sharing and with whom. As much as possible limit the use of people’s personal/confidential information.
34 | 35 |To help communication for Covid-19, Data Security and Protection Toolkit compliance requirements are being relaxed and NHSmail roll-out sped up. For all who have, or get, NHSMail accounts MS Teams access will be switched on.
39 |NHSX, NHS England and NHS Digital are working to make the process for accrediting secure email services, easier and faster. It is important that social care is able to access secure email for Covid-19 as quickly as possible.
40 | 41 |It is absolutely fine to use mobile messaging to communicate with colleagues and people in your care as needed. It is also fine to use commercial, off-the-shelf applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram, where there is no practical alternative and the benefits outweigh the risk.
43 |The important thing, as always, is to consider what type of information you are sharing and with whom. As much as possible limit the use of people’s personal/confidential information.
44 | 45 |We encourage the use of videoconferencing to carry out consultations with people in your care, or meetings with colleagues across social care and health services. This could help to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It is fine to use video conferencing tools such as Skype, WhatsApp or Facetime as well as commercial products designed specifically for this purpose.
47 |The consent of the person you care for may be implied by them accepting the invite and entering the consultation. But you should safeguard people’s personal/confidential information in the same way you would with any other consultation.
48 | 49 |You may well need to work from home – for example, when self-isolating without symptoms. 51 |
If you are working from home and using your own equipment you should check that your internet access is secure (e.g. use a Virtual Private Network and/or if possible avoid public wi-fi) and that any security features are in use.
52 |If you are taking any physical documents home with you that contain people’s personal/confidential information, you should also ensure the security of these documents at your home and when travelling.
53 | 54 |You can use your own devices to support video conferencing for consultations, mobile messaging and home working where there is no practical alternative.
56 |Reasonable steps to ensure this is safe include: setting a strong password; using secure channels to communicate e.g. tools/apps that use encryption; and not storing people’s personal/confidential information on the device unless absolutely necessary and appropriate security is in place.
57 |Information should be safely transferred to the appropriate health and care record as soon as it is practical to do so.
58 | 59 |If your Data Protection Officer or Caldicott Guardian is unsure of appropriate action to take, you can direct Information Governance questions to the NHSX IG team.
61 |The health and social care system is going to face significant pressures due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In the current circumstances it could be more harmful not to share health and care information than to share it. The Information Commissioner has assured NHSX that she cannot envisage a situation where she would take action against a health and care professional clearly trying to deliver care. You can read the statement from the Information Commissioner's Office, alongside their Q&A resource. Health regulators have also published a joint statement.
31 |Information is critical to support health and social care services, protect public health, research, monitor, track and manage the outbreak and incidence of exposure. A new notice has been issued using existing regulations which ensures that when you use confidential patient information for purposes relating to covid-19, you can be confident that you are doing so lawfully.
32 |We will need to work in different ways from usual and the focus should be what information you share and who you share it with, rather than how you share it. The following advice sets out some of the tools that you can use to support individual care, share information and communicate with colleagues during this time. This includes communications tools where data is stored outside of the UK.
33 |This advice is endorsed by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the National Data Guardian and NHS Digital.
34 | 35 |It is absolutely fine to use mobile messaging to communicate with colleagues and patients/service users as needed. It is also fine to use commercial, off-the-shelf applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram where there is no practical alternative and the benefits outweigh the risk.
37 |The important thing, as always, is to consider what type of information you are sharing and with whom. And as much as possible limit the use of personal/confidential patient information.
38 | 39 | 40 |We encourage the use of videoconferencing to carry out consultations with patients and service users. This could help to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It is fine to use video conferencing tools such as Skype, WhatsApp, Facetime as well as commercial products designed specifically for this purpose.
42 |The consent of the patient or service user is implied by them accepting the invite and entering the consultation. But you should safeguard personal/confidential patient information in the same way you would with any other consultation.
43 | 44 |You may well need to work from home - for example, when self-isolating without symptoms.
46 |If you are working from home and using your own equipment you should check that your internet access is secure (e.g. use a Virtual Private Network and/or if possible avoid public wi-fi) and that any security features are in use.
47 |If you are taking any physical documents home with you that contain personal/confidential patient information, you should also ensure the security of these documents at your home and when travelling.
48 | 49 |You can use your own devices to support video conferencing for consultations, mobile messaging and home working where there is no practical alternative.
51 |Reasonable steps to ensure this is safe include: setting a strong password; using secure channels to communicate e.g. tools/apps that use encryption; and not storing personal/confidential patient information on the device unless absolutely necessary and appropriate security is in place.
52 |Information should be safely transferred to the appropriate health and care record as soon as it is practical to do so.
53 | 54 |It is essential that during the Covid-19 outbreak health and social care professionals are able to talk to each other. You will need to share appropriate information about the people in your care including with social care, where possible using secure mail, NHSmail and MS Teams. Where these tools aren’t available you should use this guidance to suggest ways that you can speak to your colleagues.
56 | 57 |If your Data Protection Officer or Caldicott Guardian is unsure of appropriate action to take, you can direct Information Governance questions to the NHSX IG team.
59 | 60 |The health and care system is facing an unprecedented challenge and we want to ensure that healthcare organisations, Arms Length Bodies and local authorities are able to process and share the data they need to respond to Covid-19 for example by treating and caring for patients and those at risk, managing the service and identifying patterns and risks.
33 |As part of a wider package of measures, including guidance and directions, the Secretary of State has issued a range of Notices which require that data is shared for purposes of Covid-19. They will help give healthcare organisations and local authorities the confidence to share the data needed to respond to Covid-19.
34 | 35 |The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 allow the processing of Confidential Patient Information (CPI) for specific purposes. Regulation 3 provides for the processing of CPI in relation to communicable diseases and other threats to public health and in particular allows the Secretary of State to require organisations to process CPI for purposes related to communicable diseases.
37 |The Secretary of State has issued four of these notices requiring NHS Digital, NHS England & Improvement, all healthcare organisations, Arms Length Bodies, Local Authorities and GPs (including a specific requirement related to the UK Biobank project) to process CPI for the purposes related to communicable diseases.
38 | 39 |Under COPI Regulations 2002, processing means:
41 |The COPI notices cover a range of purposes related to diagnosing, managing, and controlling the spread of communicable diseases. For Covid-19 purposes this could include but is not limited to:
51 |The notice covers confidential patient information so any data regardless of its identifiability, which is being used for the purposes set out above is covered. It will all be treated in line with the principles of GDPR i.e. fairly, lawfully and securely.
60 | 61 |These Notices will be reviewed on or before 30 September 2020 and may be extended by further notice in writing. If no further notice is sent, they will expire on 30 September 2020. This means that processing of data will be stopped and information shared for the specific purpose of Covid-19 will be deleted.
63 | 64 |If you are unsure about the appropriate action to take, please contact England.IGPolicyTeam@nhs.net.
66 | 67 |Data controllers are still required to comply with relevant and appropriate data protection standards and to ensure within reason that they operate within statutory and regulatory boundaries. The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) allow health and care data to be used as long as one or more of the conditions under Article 6 and Article 9 are met. There are conditions under both Articles which can be relied on for the sharing of health and care data – including ‘the care and treatment of patients’ and ‘public health’. We would expect any organisation to disseminate information within legal requirements set out under GDPR.
69 | 70 |The national data opt-out does not apply to disclosure of confidential patient information if it is being used to protect public health, for example to:
72 |Read a full explanation of the lawful basis of such disclosures in 6.2:Communicable diseases and risks to public health in the operational policy guidance document.
79 | 80 |This guidance provides advice for patients using mobile devices such as phones, tablets and cameras in acute hospitals. This is particularly important during the Covid-19 period when patients may be isolated from loved ones.
33 |During this time you should follow the advice of the Government and the NHS on washing your hands more regularly than usual and take appropriate precautions to ensure any mobile device you use is regularly cleaned.
34 |This guidance has been endorsed by the Health and Care Information Governance Panel, which includes the National Data Guardian and Information Commissioner's Office.
35 | 36 |We want you to use your mobile device in hospital, it’s an important way of keeping in touch and making use of online resources like the NHS app.
38 |It’s important that when you use your mobile device in hospital you’re careful not to:
39 |This guidance specifically considers the use of mobile devices by patients and visitors. The same principles apply to staff using a personal mobile device but the purpose of this guidance is to help you support patients’ use of mobile devices.
48 |There are many benefits for patients that arise from encouraging them to use mobile devices:
49 |Mobile devices can be used safely in hospitals. You can support patients to use their mobile devices appropriately as follows:
56 |Each organisation is responsible for stating its own policies on the use of mobile devices by staff, patients and visitors. However, this guidance aims to promote a consistent and positive approach to using mobile devices across NHS Trusts that will underpin these policies and assist with the management of risks.
65 |Trusts should review their policies relating to mobile device use by staff, patients and visitors, including phones, tablets, cameras, video and audio recording devices. The following should be considered:
66 |Our culture and values.
23 |We want the very best digital solutions for citizens and for NHS and social care staff. We know that technology can help us meet our most pressing strategic challenges – improving outcomes, addressing workforce shortages and increasing productivity – this is articulated by NHSX’s five missions.
34 |We also want to support a thriving digital ecosystem, in which both smaller innovators and larger companies can flourish. We believe that this will bring the best solutions and most choice for patients and staff – as long as systems are built to the same open standards and are interoperable with each other.
35 |We expect digital innovators who seek to work with the NHS to:
36 |Better use of data between the NHS and partners has the potential to improve diagnosis, treatment, experience of care, efficiency of the system and overall outcomes for the people at the heart of the NHS, public health and the wider healthcare system.
44 |It must be done in a way which is safe, ethical, evidenced and transparent. People need to know that data about them is being used to develop and test healthcare solutions, and that their privacy and rights are safeguarded. For this reason, and to enable partnerships between the NHS and partners to thrive, the government has published five guiding principles.
45 |Digital innovators working with NHSX must abide by these guiding principles, the code of conduct for data-driven health and care technology, the Caldicott Principles and the data ethics framework.
46 |In addition, digital innovators must be in line with all other relevant legislation including the Data Protection Act 2018, Common Law and the Human Rights Act and will need to complete the Data Security and Privacy toolkit. Agreements on data must not be perpetual nor exclusive.
47 | 48 |We seek to work in the open as far as possible and therefore require those who work with us to:
50 |Information is critical to the response to Covid-19. Key pieces of data extracted from health and care settings, combined with information provided by patient’s themselves, will be used in new ways to care for people and help the NHS and social care to better understand and respond to the virus.
32 | 33 |These are unusual times but data must continue to be used lawfully and, despite the pandemic resulting in a broader legal allowance of data collection and use, the same strict rules that protect citizen privacy apply to how this data is used.
35 |These rules include collecting the minimum amount of information required; not using the information collected for the Covid-19 response for unrelated purposes; ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place and only keeping the information for as long as the outbreak is ongoing.
36 | 37 |We must and will be transparent about what we’re doing. We will regularly update this document so you can stay updated on how data is being used. We will also publish a register of those who are provided with access to the information collected nationally and the reason why.
39 | 40 |To ensure that those providing care for patients/service users have access to up-to-date information during the Covid-19 period, a comprehensive medical summary from an individual’s GP records will be made available to other GP practices, NHS 111 and other health and care services.
44 |This means that GP practices which provide care to new patients in the event that a nearby practice temporarily closes due to an infection, or health and care professionals who provide advice to people contacting NHS 111, will have the information they need. Controls will be in place to ensure that only those caring for patients/service users have access.
45 |Using GP records of patients with certain underlying health conditions NHS Digital has compiled a list of people who are the most vulnerable to Covid-19. This is known as the Shielded Patient List, and is being used to support those that are the most vulnerable and have identified themselves as requiring additional support. Information about how this list has been compiled and which organisations it has been shared with and for what Covid-19 related purpose can be found on NHS Digital's website.
47 |To understand and anticipate demand on health and care services, we need a robust picture of the virus, how it’s spreading, where it might spread next and how that will affect the NHS and social care services. On the supply side, we need to know where the system is likely to face strain first, be that on ventilators, beds or staff sickness. This includes metrics such as:
49 |NHS England and Improvement and NHSX have developed a single, secure store, that protects the privacy of our citizens, to gather data from across the health and care system to inform the Covid-19 response. A bespoke platform has also been built to allow analysis and interpretation of this data and to support organisations with secure, reliable and timely information to make informed, effective decisions about how to respond to the pandemic. It will also support researchers to understand more about the virus.
55 |The data, which will always remain fully under the control of the NHS, will largely be from existing data sources e.g. data already collected by NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England and NHS Digital. New data sources include 999 call data, real time hospital occupancy and A&E capacity data and ONS data sources as well as data provided by patients themselves - all of which will help us to identify hot spots and trends in order to get the country back to normal in a controlled way, as quickly as possible. All the data held in the platform is subject to strict controls that meet the requirements of data protection legislation.
56 |NHSX and NHS Digital have developed a three-pronged public facing service to give people with Covid-19 symptoms information and better measure the number of people with symptoms nationwide. This will help people support themselves and improve the ability of the NHS to prepare for variations in demand across the country. We are doing this by providing an NHS Coronavirus symptom service comprising three NHS services to citizens. These are:
57 |NHSX is also looking at whether app-based solutions might be helpful in tracking and managing coronavirus, and we have assembled expertise from inside and outside the organisation to do this as rapidly as possible.
63 |NHSX is committed to making data and information public; as much as it is appropriate and responsible to do so. There is already a public-facing dashboard available. Access to more detailed data as well as requests for collaboration will be carefully managed by NHSX and NHS England and Improvement through one central mailbox. This approach will ensure that policy makers, commissioners, planners and researchers involved in the national effort against Covid-19 have the information that they need.
64 |UK Biobank is studying how the health of 500,000 people is affected by their lifestyle, environment and genes. All participants have volunteered to be involved. This resource could offer further insight into Covid-19 e.g. the factors which make one individual experience more serious symptoms compared to another. To support this Covid-19 work, we have enabled UK Biobank to access data held by GP practices on those individuals who have agreed to be part of the UK Biobank programme.
66 |The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford is undertaking a study to understand the complications of Covid-19. Little information is available about how the virus affects mothers and new-born babies and it is not clear how best to care for mothers and babies affected. Little is also known about how babies become infected with Covid-19 and whether it transmits from mothers to their baby(s) while they are still pregnant, during labour and birth, or whether the infection occurs following birth. The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) will collect via a survey, information from doctors who have looked after a new-born baby or mother with Covid-19. This information will be linked with existing data, such as the National Neonatal Research (NNRD), the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet), and the national surveillance of maternal and perinatal deaths (MBRRACE-UK) to ensure a complete understanding of the cases. This will mean we can provide better care to mothers and babies and the best advice to pregnant women about the effects of Covid-19 on their baby.
67 |As time goes on, we will update this information to cover new ways in which data is being used to support the Covid-19 response. This may include examples of research into Covid-19: to understand the virus better, develop potential treatments / a vaccine and inform our response to future pandemics.
70 | 71 | 72 |There is no single, universally agreed definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI), nor indeed of ‘intelligence’. Intelligence can be defined as ‘problem-solving’, and ‘an intelligent system’ as one which takes the best possible action in a given situation (Accelerating AI in health and care).
32 |The ‘A’ of AI generally refers to one of the following:
33 |Artificially Intelligent Systems can carry out or augment health and care tasks that have until now been completed by humans, or have not been possible previously. AI presents significant opportunities for saving money, improving care, and saving lives. For example, it could help personalise NHS screening and treatments for cancer, eye disease and a range of other conditions, as well as freeing up staff time.
41 |Read some of our case studies:
42 |You will find more case studies at the end of our latest report Artificial Intelligence: how to get it right. Putting policy into practice for safe data-driven innovation in health and care. 49 | 50 |
NHSX wants to support data driven technologies that have the potential to improve the quality of health and care services.
55 |We want to start with the basics and make sure that new technology respects ethical values such as autonomy, transparency, confidentiality and privacy. That’s why to date we have focussed on getting the right ethical frameworks and standards in place so that we can better guide people.
59 |The code of conduct (Department of Health and Social Care, 2019) sets out what is expected of people developing, deploying and using data-driven technologies.
60 | 61 |NHSX has been working hard to understand how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently being developed in the NHS; what the greatest opportunities and risks are; and what challenges developers in this field face.
65 |The result is a report that brings together the rich insight we have gathered together with some guidance for the development and deployment of AI in health and care. You can download the full AI report as a PDF.
66 |This report is prefaced by the foundation of knowledge obtained from the 2018 Accelerating AI in health and care: results from a state of the nation survey.
67 | 68 |The NHS AI Laboratory will develop and deploy practical applications of artificial intelligence in the NHS that can improve the health and quality of life for our citizens. It will harness the power of data science and AI to turbo-charge our ability to make evidence-based decisions in health and social care.
70 |Understanding there are ethical and safety concerns associated with the use of AI in health and care, the Lab will align to the core founding principles of the NHS; addressing transparency, safety, privacy, explicability and bias. By building on the foundations already laid, such as our code of conduct, these frameworks and best practices will ensure the project maintains the support of the public, and positions the NHS as a world leader in the development of safe and effective AI.
71 |Through the creation of this Lab, and building on our existing work, we will:
72 |We will work closely with the following partners to deliver the objectives of the NHS AI Lab including but not limited to:
81 |The Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award is run by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) in partnership with NHSX and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It will make £140m available over three years to accelerate the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies which meet the strategic aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
91 |The Award will support technologies across the spectrum of development: from initial feasibility to evaluation within the NHS. Initially, it will focus on four key areas: screening, diagnosis, decision support and improving system efficiency.
92 |A call for applications for the AI Award will run at least twice a year through an open competition to identify appropriate AI technologies for support into the NHS. The application process for the first competition is open from 28 January 2020 and closes at 1pm on 4 March 2020. To find out more, visit the AAC website. For further information and enquiries, please contact enquiries@ai-award.info.
93 | 94 |If you are developing a data-driven technology or want to commission a system utilising it, you may find the following helpful:
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142 | 143 |