Although the end of 2021 is nearly here, PRSB is working hard on developing the first batch of standards to be published in 2022. Have a read of what’s to come.

Diabetes Standards: We are developing two standards for diabetes care for adults and children, for remote monitoring and information sharing between anyone involved in a person’s diabetes care. In 2021, we ran four consultations with professionals and people with diabetes and in combination with the results from our recent survey, PRSB’s project team are drawing up the final iteration of the standards.

Nursing project: NHSX has asked PRSB to determine what’s needed from a new nursing standard to improve quality and safety of care, including care planning. This month, the project team are finishing the PRSB Nursing Standard Assessments scoping phase, which identifies the requirements for a potential standard for nursing assessments, and developing the report which will be used to develop a nursing standard in 2022. The team have also completed the discovery report for the discovery phase, which is available on our website.

Urgent, Palliative and End of Life Care Information Standard: PRSB is developing standards to help people and families feel more in control of their preferences and needs at end of life and ensure this information is correctly shared. We are finalising the standard in 2022 and developing a toolkit to assist with the implementation of this standard when it is published in the new year. Check out our podcast with former carer Roberta Lovick and Compassion in Dying nurse Sarah Malik.

Workforce Information Standard: NHS staff need a digital passport to allow them to move between placements and employers without having to manually reconfirm registration details and qualifications. PRSB’s workforce project team have consulted on a standard for a digital passport to make this a reality for staff, starting with doctors-in-training as the pilot group with the aim of extending the passport’s application to many other staff groups.

Social Prescribing Standard: For many people, improving health and wellbeing requires a holistic approach that addresses social concerns as much as medical ones. PRSB’s social prescribing standard will digitally capture the content of social prescribing sessions and make it transferrable to the different care providers to identify who would benefit from social prescribing. This year, PRSB held consultations and conducted a survey to inform the standard with the views of social prescribers and people who use social prescribing services. We are now analysing the results of our UK wide survey and are due to publish the standard in 2022.

111 Referrals Standard: The aim of PRSB’s 111 referrals project is to develop a standard for referral information from the 111 service that is useful to the receiver and transferrable to wherever the patient is directed to next. We have developed a draft standard that is being used for pilots as part of NHS Digital’s Booking and Referral Standard and the project will use the feedback from the pilots to inform the standard, to be published in the new year.