Blog: How the new Standards Partnership Scheme will improve the drive for health and care data   
Prof Maureen Baker, Chair of the PRSB

“Since the pandemic began, many countries have struggled to provide data in near real-time in order to act swiftly to combat the virus. The recent WHO SCORE report estimated that while 60% of the participating countries have systems to review progress and performance of their health sector, only half have the capacity to monitor quality of care, and a third have the capacity for a national digital health strategy based on recommended standards. 

Although the UK government has responded to the challenge by rapidly creating a single place to gather and analyse data and feed it back across the health and care system, it still highlights the need for robust information, both for direct care and planning of care.  to manage the pandemic in real time. This was also confirmed in our latest report Health and Care and Covid 19, which analysed the ways we need to tackle digitisation.   

For the past five years, the PRSB has been developing standards and guidance for the content of health and care records to support the collection and sharing of high-quality data. Where standards have been adopted, we’re already seeing positive benefits, including increased efficiency for professionals and better personalised care. But adoption of standards and sharing information between systems remains a huge challenge in health and care that needs to be addressed urgently.   

The new Standards Partnership Scheme will visibly recognise and support vendors across the UK that are implementing professionally endorsed record standards. By offering a targeted, practical support programme for partners that focuses on co-production and learning, we can help vendors access the skills and expertise they need to deliver a truly integrated system. We also hope that the Quality Partnership, where vendors test conformance to PRSB standards, will help to support adoption and spread of standards. In turn they should demonstrate best practice to other organisations, helping all sectors of the health and care system to come together and be able to deliver this shared goal of integration. Later this spring we’ll be expanding the partnership scheme to work with NHS and social care providers to help them adopt standards, to complement the vendor offer we have just introduced. We’ve always said that we need collaboration across the board to make this happen, and we’re pleased that we can give people the tools to support this.  

By working together we can make the changes necessary to ensure information is at the fingertips of everyone in the health and care system whether they are caring for someone at the bedside or planning care at a national level.”