Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data sets will flow into the Federated Data Platform; and what her planned timetable is for each of those data sets to be (a) visible and (b) in use on the Federated Data Platform by participating hospital trusts.

The NHS Federated Data Platform will deliver measurable improvements for patients. It will allow people to be discharged quicker, and for waiting lists to be shortened, through making better use of data.

It will securely bring together information already available to trusts, in hospital health records, waiting lists, and theatre and staff rosters, to better manage patient care. Each NHS organisation will be the data controller for their instance of the platform. Data will always remain under the full control and protection of the NHS and is only visible to approved users.

The NHS Federated Data Platform will provide trusts and integrated care boards, on behalf of local integrated care systems, with a set of core capabilities and nationally developed products, to support five key National Health Service priorities: elective recovery; care-co-ordination; vaccination and immunisation; population health management; and supply chain management.

A suite of products will sit under each of the use cases. A product is a software solution to address a particular NHS need, for example a patient discharge product which brings together data to help support discharge teams in hospitals in getting patients the right care in the right place. As each product is developed or transitioned to the NHS Federated Data Platform, a privacy notice will be published, setting out the data that will be utilised within the product. These are available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/privacy-notice/how-we-use-your-information/nhs-federated-data-platform-privacy-notice/fdp-products-and-product-privacy-notices/

The NHS Federated Data Platform is being implemented in phases, with the first phase, from March to July 2024, being a transition of existing National Data Platform products to the national instance of the NHS Federated Data Platform, and the transition of 44 pilot sites to local instances. The second phase, from May 2024 to March 2027 and following the successful transition phase, is the rollout of instances of the platform to new trusts and integrated care boards. Once trusts and boards have their local instance of the platform, they can choose to use any of the nationally commissioned products, and develop new or additional products locally, to address local issues. This is when the data will become visible to approved users.