NHS Digital

{{update|reason=NHS Digital no longer exists as an organisation; some detail should move to NHS England|inaccurate=yes|date=April 2023}}

{{Infobox government agency

| type = Non-departmental public body

| logo = NHS Digital logo.svg

| logo_caption =

| formed = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2013|04|01|paren=yes}}

| preceding1 = NHS Connecting for Health

| preceding2 = NHS Information Centre

| dissolved = {{End date|2023|1|31|df=y}}

| superseding1 = NHS England

| jurisdiction = England

| headquarters = Leeds, England

| region_code = GB

| motto = Information and technology for better health and care

| parent_department = Department of Health and Social Care

| keydocument1 =

| website = {{Official URL}}

| map =

| map_caption =

| footnotes =

| agency_name = NHS Digital

| logo_width =

| map_width =

}}

NHS Digital was the trading name from 2016 of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which was the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care in England, particularly those involved with the National Health Service of England. The organisation was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care,{{cite book|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/our-governance/annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017|title=Annual Report 2016/17|publisher=NHS Digital}} until it was merged into NHS England in 2023.

Role

NHS Digital provided digital services for the NHS and social care, including the management of large health informatics programmes.{{cite web|publisher=Department of Health|title=HSCIC changing its name to NHS Digital|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hscic-changing-its-name-to-nhs-digital}} They delivered national systems through in-house teams, and by contracting private suppliers. These services included managing patient data including the Spine, which allows the secure sharing of information between different parts of the NHS, and forms the basis of the Electronic Prescription Service, Summary Care Record and Electronic Referral Service.{{cite web|publisher=NHS Digital|title=Spine|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/spine}}

NHS Digital took on the roles of a number of predecessor bodies including the NHS Information Centre, NHS Connecting for Health, and parts of NHS Direct. It also ran "The NHS Website" (www.nhs.uk, formerly NHS Choices), the national website for the NHS in England.

NHS Digital was the national collator of information about health and social care, and produced more than 260 official statistics and national statistical publications. This included national comparative data for secondary uses, developed from the long-running Hospital Episode Statistics to help local decision-makers improve the quality and efficiency of frontline care.

History

The organisation was created as a special health authority on 1 April 2005 by a merger of the National Programme for IT, part of the Department of Health, the NHS Information Authority, and the Prescribing Support Unit.

Following the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the HSCIC changed from a special health authority to an executive non-departmental public body on 1 April 2013. Effective at this time, HSCIC took over parts of the troubled NHS National Programme for IT from the agency NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) which ceased to exist.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229062/0332.pdf|title=The Health and Social Care Information Centre Annual Report and Accounts 2011/12|access-date=19 April 2014}} It also ran the Health Survey for England.

On 20 April 2016, it was announced that HSCIC would be rebranding, changing its name to NHS Digital in July 2016.{{cite news |url=http://www.hsj.co.uk/topics/technology-and-innovation/hscic-renamed-nhs-digital-and-new-chair-hired/7004172.article |title=HSCIC renamed NHS Digital and new chair hired |first=Charlotte |last=Santry |work=Health Service Journal |date=20 April 2016}}

NHSX, created in February 2019, had oversight of digital strategy and policy in NHS England. As a budget-holder, NHSX commissioned projects from NHS Digital.{{Cite web|title=Digital Health News confirms new NHSX unit to oversee digital transformation|url=https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/02/nhsx-unit-confirmed-oversee-digital-transformation/|last=Crouch|first=Hannah|date=2019-02-19|website=Digital Health|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-19}} On 22 November 2021, it was announced that NHS Digital would be merged with NHSX and incorporated into NHS England.{{Cite web|title=NHS Digital to merge with NHS England in major tech overhaul|url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/nhs-digital-to-merge-with-nhs-england-in-major-tech-overhaul/7031386.article/|last=Rapson|first=Jasmine|date=2021-11-22|website=Health Service Journal|language=en-GB|access-date=2021-12-05}} The merger was completed on 1 February 2023.{{cite web |last1=Evenstad |first1=Lis |title=Goodbye NHS Digital – a new era of NHS technology is upon us {{!}} Computer Weekly |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/news/365530216/Goodbye-NHS-Digital-a-new-era-of-NHS-technology-is-upon-us |website=ComputerWeekly.com |access-date=20 April 2023 |language=en}}

Business areas

=Handling patient data=

NHS Digital ran the Spine service for the NHS, which is a central, secure system for patient data in England. This enables a number of services for patients, including:

the Electronic Prescription Service, which sends prescriptions digitally from GP surgeries and other NHS providers to pharmacies, without needing a printed prescription.{{cite web|publisher=NHS Digital|title=Electronic Prescription Service|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/Electronic-Prescription-Service}}
the Summary Care Record which allows authorised NHS staff (such as hospital or ambulance staff) to see a summary of important information about a patient, to help give the best care.{{cite web|publisher=NHS Digital|title=Summary Care Records|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/summary-care-records}}
the e-referral service which manages the booking of first time appointments with hospitals and specialists.{{cite web|publisher=NHS Digital|title=NHS e-referral Service|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/e-Referral-Service}}
the Child Protection - Information Sharing system, which helps ensure that any child protection concerns are known by the NHS when they are treated.{{cite web|title=Child Protection - Information Sharing|publisher=NHS Digital|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/child-protection-information-sharing}}

As the HSCIC, the organisation ran the care.data programme, which was cancelled in 2016.

NHS Digital collected the national 'Hospital Episode Statistics' (HES), which is a record of every 'episode' of admitted patient care (counted by completing care with a consultant, meaning that more than one episode can be associated with a single stay in hospital{{cite web|title=Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)|url=http://www.natcansat.nhs.uk/data/hes.aspx|website=National Clinical Analysis and Specialised Applications Team|access-date=24 March 2015}}) delivered by the NHS in England, including those done under contract by private providers. This involves the tracking of around 16 million 'episodes' of care every year.{{cite web |title=Hospital Episode Statistics |url=http://content.digital.nhs.uk/hes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003080821/http://content.digital.nhs.uk/hes |archive-date=3 October 2016 |access-date=24 March 2015 |publisher=Health and Social Care Information Centre}} This information is used for a range of statistical analysis, as well as for determining payments to providers. In addition to admitted patient care, HES also provides data for outpatient and emergency care encounters. The Emergency Care Data Set has been created to replace HES A&E data and provide better data on emergency care encounters.{{cite web|title=Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS)|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-sets/emergency-care-data-set-ecds|publisher=NHS Digital|access-date=31 March 2019}}

In November 2019 it launched the National Record Locator, which spans different health economies and is intended to enable paramedics, community mental health nurses, children’s health teams and maternity services to access the records of mental health patients across England.{{cite news |title=National sharing of patient records enabled in first-of-kind initiative |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/national-sharing-of-patient-records-enabled-in-first-of-kind-initiative/7026244.article? |access-date=8 December 2019 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=28 October 2019}}

In August 2020 it launched a pilot electronic prescription service in three hospital trusts, where hospital prescriptions were sent electronically to the patient’s community pharmacy, as during the COVID-19 pandemic in England most outpatient consultations were held remotely. {{cite news |title=Three hospital trusts trial electronic prescription service during COVID-19 pandemic |url=https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/20208302.article? |access-date=11 October 2020 |publisher=Pharmaceutical Journal |date=26 August 2020}}

=Central technology team=

A troubleshooting operation was established in 2018 to help NHS trusts when major IT deployments go wrong. Eight trusts needed emergency assistance in 2018 after a deployment led to severe service disruptions. Funding of £2 million a year for the service has been allocated and expansion is expected.{{cite news |title=New tech team to clean up trust IT fiascos |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/new-tech-team-to-clean-up-trust-it-fiascos/7023650.article |access-date=1 December 2018 |publisher=Health Service Journal |date=24 October 2018}}

=Statistics and data=

NHS Digital compiled national data about the NHS and social care, with over 260 publications every year. In addition, they provided data analysis, and access to data and clinical indicators.

=Public-facing services=

The NHS website www.nhs.uk, formerly NHS Choices, is the public website for the NHS Services in England, and was run by a team at NHS Digital, mandated by DOH with input from Public Health England. In November 2022 it had been visited more than one billion times in the previous 12 months.{{cite news |title=NHS website tops one billion visits |url=https://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/articles/nhs-website-tops-one-billion-visits? |access-date=10 November 2022 |publisher=National Health Executive |date=8 November 2022}}

Leadership

Simon Bolton, formerly chief information officer at Jaguar Land Rover and NHS Test and Trace, was appointed as interim chief executive officer in June 2021.{{Cite web |title=Simon Bolton |url=https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/our-organisation/nhs-digital-board/board-members/simon-bolton |access-date=2021-08-03 |website=NHS Digital |language=en}} He replaced Sarah Wilkinson, CEO from August 2017 until she decided to step down in March 2021.{{Cite web |last=Downey |first=Andrea |date=2021-03-26 |title=Sarah Wilkinson to step down as NHS Digital chief executive |url=https://www.digitalhealth.net/2021/03/sarah-wilkinson-to-step-down-as-nhs-digital-chief-executive/ |access-date=2021-03-29 |website=Digital Health |language=en-GB}}