NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is to launch an open data portal by the end of this month.
The arm’s length body of the Department for Health and Social Care said the portal is being developed using the CKAN open source platform for sharing data that was originally developed by global non-profit organisation Open Knowledge International.
It involves the provision of an API to enable users to make queries on the data through the software of their choice and the re-use it – although NHS BSA said patient confidentiality will be protected and details kept secure.
The first dataset to be made available through the portal will cover prescribing information for GP practices and cost centres in England. This brings together two previous releases: Detailed Prescribing Information from NHSBSA and Practice Level Prescribing in England from NHS Digital.
Part of journey
Darren Curry, chief digital officer at NHSBSA said: “We’re committed to making data open and the launch of our new open data portal, developed using open source software, is an important first step on this journey.
“We recognise that through greater transparency and making more of our data open, we can inspire choice and increase accountability. We strive to make more of our data open, encourage use, and re-use while protecting the confidentiality of patients by keeping their data secure.
“The more data that we make available, the more we can help the wider health service. Our new open data portal will allow data to be more easily compared, contrasted and challenged. We hope that it will help to provide new insights.”
Image from NHS BSA, Open Government Licence v3.0
