NHS England has indicated to healthcare trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) that it expects them to begin using the Federated Data Platform (FDP) within the next two years.
Its chief operating officer, Dame Emily Lawson, and national transformation director, Vin Diwaker, have written to trusts asking them to provide details of how they plan to use the FDP this week, it has been reported in HSJ.
An NHS spokesperson later said: "While implementation is still not being mandated, all trusts and ICBs are being asked to provide plans for how they will maximise the benefits of the Federated Data Platform to deliver better joined up care for their patients within the next two years.
“Detail of these plans will also ensure trusts can be scheduled into the overall delivery time of the programme and be fully supported to realise the benefits of the platform as quickly as possible.
“Where the FDP can provide additional capabilities currently provided by other systems, it is right that we’d expect organisations to fully consider using the platform going forward, as part of their planning, to ensure the best possible patient care for while delivering the best value for taxpayers.”
Access to information
The FDP is being developed to make it possible to pull together operational data from a wide range of systems around the NHS to help staff access crucial information. It will operate as a series of separate data platforms, with each trust and integrated care board running their own instance of the FDP.
News of the letter to trusts and ICBs has come days after NHS England revealed it was setting up a self-service support portal, described as a Centre of Excellence, to support the roll out of the platform.
It is being developed by a consortium led by Palantir under a seven-year contract valued at up to £330 million.
