NHS Digital

The place for doctors, informaticians, developers, designers, researchers, healthcare leaders and others working to improve the National Health Service's and social care system’s use of data and digital technology to share their ideas and experiences. Published by NHS Digital, NHS England and NHSX.

NHS Digital

NHS Digital Transformation Blog

A space to share insights and experiences for everybody working to improve the NHS and social care system’s use of data and digital technology.

Image of Dan Wintercross sitting in an office

Shaping the future of technology in general practice

Dan Wintercross explains the benefits of getting involved with the early adopter programme, which is giving GP practices the opportunity to shape the future of digital, data and technology in primary care.

Dan Wintercross

Associate Director of GP IT Futures, NHS Digital

How to jump into the cloud

Neil Gibbs, Cloud Engagement Lead at NHS Digital, says we need more NHS organisations to migrate to the cloud and explains what help is available.

Neil Gibbs

Cloud Engagement Lead, NHS Digital

A hand holds a mobile phone showing a GP enquiry form on the NHS App

Expanding online consultations in the NHS App

Dan Collins, Senior Product Manager for the NHS App, explains why we want to open up the app to more suppliers offering online consultation services and welcomes the latest service to integrate.

Dan Collins

Senior Product Manager, NHS Digital

Dr Manpreet Pujara stands in a building in front of a banner

How to talk to busy teams about cyber security

Manpreet Pujara, Clinical Director for Patient Safety and Freedom to Speak up Guardian, says everyone working in health and care has a role in protecting the NHS from cyber attacks, and that clear, supportive messaging will help people do their bit.

Manpreet Pujara

Clinical Director for Patient Safety, NHS Digital

Associate Director of Cyber Delivery Cathy O'Keefe sits at a desk

Building diversity from the ground up

Cathy O’Keeffe, Associate Director of Cyber Delivery at NHS Digital, says improving the diversity of our teams is crucial to the successful delivery of cyber security across the health and care system.

Cathy O'Keeffe

Associate Director of Cyber Delivery, NHS Digital

Three lateral flow devices. One has a visible positive line and the other two do not

COVID-19 digital readers: Can you see the line?

Rob Banathy, Senior Product Manager, explains how his team developed the lateral flow device (LFD) digital reader service that can detect nearly twice the number of positive COVID-19 cases during early infection compared to the human eye.

Rob Banathy

Senior Product Manager, NHS Digital

A female pharmacist dispenses medicine from a community pharmacy

How the NHS App has helped relieve pressure in my pharmacy team

Rupesh Thakkar, a chief pharmacist for a primary care network in Solihull who also supports the Implementation Team in NHS England's Transformation Directorate, describes how the repeat prescriptions feature on the NHS App helped to ease the pressure on primary care services in his area.

Rupesh Thakkar

Implementation Lead, NHS England

What does creating a ‘digital front door’ mean?

Professor Jonathan Benger, Digital Citizen Portfolio Lead at NHS England, introduces our National Digital Channels Platform and Integration Strategy which aims to make our digital channels more open, collaborative and efficient across the health and care system.

Jonathan Benger

Digital Citizen Portfolio Lead and interim Chief Clinical Information Officer, NHS England

Chris Day sits at a table in the Leeds office with data charts on a screen

Cyber security is a patient safety issue

Cyber security is more than ‘just an IT issue’; it’s ultimately about keeping patients safe. Chris Day, Cyber Clinical Informatics Manager, discusses his role in embedding clinical safety deeper into our cyber security strategies.

Chris Day

Clinical Informatics Manager, NHS Digital

Older woman measuring her oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter

NHS Pathways: Designing with clinical equity

Siama Latif, Senior Clinical Informatician at NHS Digital, looks at the process behind how we triage COVID Oximetry @home patients using NHS 111 or 999 services.

Siama Latif

Senior Clinical Informatician, NHS Digital

Group of people having a discussion around a meeting table in an office.

What does it mean to be a ‘mature’ team?

Lauren Latham, Head of Product for our screening programmes, explains a new approach to supporting product development teams at NHS Digital.

Lauren Latham

Head of Product, NHS Digital

Keeping accessibility at the heart of our developer hub

Matthew Firth, Business Analyst in our API Management team, explains how we’ve worked with users to ensure our resources for developers don’t exclude people with accessibility needs.

Matthew Firth

Business Analyst, NHS Digital

Making building APIs easier

Daniela Simonato, business analyst in our API Management team, says collaboration and flexibility are critical to making APIs (application programming interfaces) easier to build, and therefore serving users’ and producers’ needs.

Daniela Simonato

Business Analyst, NHS Digital

Vicky Axon who is NHS Digital's Regional Security Lead

Why diversity is not a 'nice to have' in cyber

Vicky Axon, NHS Digital's Regional Security Lead, says monocultures breed security weaknesses and we are still struggling to get the variety of backgrounds we need in NHS cyber teams.

Vicky Axon

Regional Security Lead, NHS Digital

(Re)using the right tools for the job

Shan Rahulan, Director of Platforms - Core Services, argues that we shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel every time we build a product.

Shan Rahulan

Director of Platforms - Core Services, NHS Digital

A collage of images demonstrate a range of people looking at the NHS App on their phones.

NHS App messaging - a better way to talk to patients

Harry Etherington, Product Delivery Officer, explains how we’re opening up the use of NHS App messaging to more health and care services, to better satisfy the growing appetite of users to receive their communications digitally.

Harry Etherington

Product Delivery Officer, NHS Digital

Collage image of woman ensuring her device is protected from cyber security attacks.

The importance of good cyber security during a pandemic

Toby Griffiths, Head of Innovation and Delivery for NHS Digital's Data Security Centre, discusses how we have tackled cyber security issues and how we are addressing 'security debt' brought about by the pandemic.

Toby Griffiths

Head of Innovation and Delivery, NHS Digital's Data Security Centre

Dr Mona Johnson sitting in front of her computer in the GP practice where she works.

Making health tech safe for patients

On World Patient Safety Day, Dr Mona Johnson, Deputy Clinical Director of Patient Safety at NHS Digital and a practicing GP, explains how NHS Digital systems and services keep people safe.

Mona Johnson

Deputy Clinical Director of Patient Safety, NHS Digital

Collage image of people receiving their letters inviting them to get a vaccination.

What's behind a simple letter?

David Ibbotson, Operations Director for the Vaccine Programme at NHS South, Central and West (SCW), a key partner in the NHS-wide vaccination programme, shares what he has learnt about what is required to deliver a ‘simple’ letter inviting someone for a jab.

David Ibbotson

Operations Director for the Vaccine Programme, NHS South, Central and West

Lead Service Designer Jason Hodge in his garden

Designing out the need for training in a staff-facing app

Jason Hodge, Lead Service Designer for the national booking service, looks at how they had to quickly design an app that COVID-19 vaccination site staff could easily and effectively use to check in the hundreds of people arriving daily to get their jab.

Jason Hodge

Lead Service Designer, NHS Digital

How a virtual work placement opened my eyes

Emma Clark, who is studying to become a junior doctor, describes what she learned during her virtual work placement at NHS Digital and how it has given her a new perspective on the NHS.

Emma Clark

The rise of the clinical informatician

Dr Raj Kumar, our Chief Clinician for Informatics, explains his role at NHS Digital and how it’s made him a better doctor, how clinical informatics has developed in the NHS, and gives advice to those looking to enter the field.

Raj Kumar

Chief Clinician for Informatics, NHS Digital

Victoria Wray, Advanced Analytics Clinical Lead at Susses Partnership Foundation Trust

From the frontline: Seeing the patient in the data

Victoria Wray is the Advanced Analytics Clinical lead at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. She discusses how they developed a data visualisation tool that helped clinicians to provide more effective treatments for their patients suffering from mental health issues.

Victoria Wray

Advanced Analytics Clinical Lead, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Man in his thirties looking at his mobile phone

Making digital mental health services better: a nurse's view

People are increasingly turning to digital services to get help for urgent mental health problems. Jane Smith, learning disability nurse and clinical lead for NHS 111 online, describes how the team have improved the service and how her role as a nurse helped make it happen.

Jane Smith

Clinical Lead, NHS Digital

People queueing outside a coronavirus vaccination centre

Behind the scenes at COVID-19 vaccination centres

The national booking service is helping millions of people schedule their life-saving COVID-19 vaccinations. James Higgott, Lead Product Manager, gives an insider’s view on how we created the staff-facing products that make up this service and solved some teething problems along the way.

James Higgott

Lead Product Manager, NHS Digital

Rosie Atkin from the Connected Nottinghamshire is sat on the right of a local resident, showing her how to navigate the NHS App on a phone.

From the frontline: What do the people want?

Connected Nottinghamshire won Health Tech Team of the Year at the HTN Awards 2020. Alexis Farrow, Head of Strategy and Transformation for the programme, explains how her team set out to understand what digital solution would best support the wide spectrum of health and care needs for the people in Nottinghamshire. She found that solution in the NHS App.

Alexis Farrow

Head of Strategy and Transformation, Connected Nottinghamshire

A nurse is wearing PPE whilst keeping an eye on the monitors displaying updates on patients in a hospital ward.

Overcoming digital barriers in the nursing profession

Sue Clarke, Clinical Lead at NHS Digital, and registered nurse, says good communication is still at the heart of bringing about the digital transformation of the nursing profession.

Sue Clarke

Clinical Lead, NHS Digital

A nurse checks out additional information on a patient's Summary Care Record.

How is additional information in Summary Care Records being used?

As the coronavirus hit us in March, the Government made a significant change to the sharing of patient information for those working on the frontline in the NHS. Tamara Farrar, a user researcher at NHS Digital, looked at what that extra information meant for professionals in a wide range of different health and care settings.

Tamara Farrar

Senior User Researcher, NHS Digital

How the NHS App is upping its game

Susie Day, Programme Head for the NHS App, explains how new features help support patients and clinicians to meet an increasing need for remote access to services during the pandemic and how they will improve healthcare after the current crisis.

Susie Day

Programme Head, NHS App, NHS Digital

Demystifying the integration process for the NHS App

James Reith, Content Designer for the NHS App, explains how the NHS App integration team have improved their integration process to make it easier for partner services to innovate.

James Reith

Content Designer, NHS Digital

Graphic demonstrating that you can access the NHS login via the website or an app.

NHS login: Coping with the large-scale adoption of digital health services

Richard McStay, Lead Delivery Manager, explains how the NHS login team is making it easier for more people to register.

Richard McStay

NHS login Lead Delivery Manager, NHS Digital

Cyber Security Consultant Rosie Underwood sits at her desk

Cyber with Rosie

Rosie Underwood, Cyber Security Consultant in NHS Digital’s Data Security Centre, talks about her role in strengthening the security of organisations across the NHS in support of Cyber Security Awareness month.

Rosie Underwood

Cyber Security Consultant, NHS Digital

Call handler Freddie Irvin is at his desk taking calls for the NHS 111 service in Norfolk

From the frontline: Good systems save lives

On #StartAHeart day, Freddie Ivin, a call handler for the NHS 111 service in Norfolk, explains the vital training role NHS Digital plays in helping call handlers deal with CPR calls, and Gina Gill describes the impact of a call she received about a man who had stopped breathing in her role as a NHS 111 Health Advisor for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

The importance of data in fighting disease during the pandemic

Clinical data is acutely private and confidential, and patients rightly demand that it is handled with great care. Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive of NHS Digital, explains more.

Sarah Wilkinson

Photo of Simon Dyson in front of his computer at home.

How to cut your risks of a human-operated ransomware attack

Many ransomware attacks are not fully automated but involve individuals gaining access, moving around your system and then deploying malware. Simon Dyson, NHS Digital’s Cyber Security Operations Centre lead, discusses how organisations can make it hard for them.

Simon Dyson

Lead, Cyber Security Operations Centre, NHS Digital

Photo of Tahmina Rokib, Clinical Lead for Digital Medicines at NHS Digital, in a pharmacy

Improving the information flow between pharmacies and GPs

Tahmina Rokib, Clinical Lead for Digital Medicines at NHS Digital, talks about how electronic notifications giving details of urgent medication issued by community pharmacies, keep GPs fully informed and patients’ records up-to-date.

Tahmina Rokib

Clinical Lead, Digital Medicines at NHS Digital,

Head and shoulders picture of John Noble who leads on cyber security on the NHS Digital board

Effective cyber security has never mattered so much

John Noble, the non-executive director who leads on information and cyber security for the NHS Digital Board, looks at the cyber threat facing the NHS as it deals with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

John Noble

Non-executive director on the NHS Digital Board,

Lucy Ha sitting in front of her computer at home.

Building great digital services during a crisis

Lucy Ha, Product and Delivery Management Graduate, explains how the NHS digital service manual is helping organisations quickly build accessible, consistent digital products and services needed to respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Lucy Ha

Product and Delivery Management Graduate, NHS Digital

Photo of a person's arm as they donating blood.

How we’re supporting COVID-19 convalescent plasma trials

NHS Blood and Transplant is investigating the effectiveness of treating coronavirus patients with plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19. Heather Pinches, Head of the Clinical Trials Service at NHS Digital, explains how we’re helping with this effort.

Heather Pinches

Head of Clinical Trials Service, NHS Digital

A care worker shows information on a smartphone to a person with learning disabilities

Closing the healthcare gap for people with learning disabilities

Providing easy read materials, longer appointments or other adjustments for people with learning disabilities or long-term conditions can make a big difference in providing quality care. Stephen Robinson, Project Manager at NHS Digital for the Reasonable Adjustment Flag, explains the impact this flag will have for patients and how tailoring support to individuals will help close the healthcare gap between outcomes for those with and without disabilities.

Steve Robinson

Senior Project Manager in Integration Projects, NHS Digital

Photo of Nikki Jeffery sitting in front of her computer

Teams helping bridge the gap

Social distancing has radically changed the way we can work together during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Nikki Jeffery, Urology Fellow at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, describes how using collaboration software has helped link people up.

Nikki Jeffery

Urologist, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Image of person speaking to GP on a smart phone screen.

Launching online consultations in the NHS App during COVID-19

Tracy Higgs, Product Lead for online consultations in the NHS App, explains how her team has made asking a GP for advice through the app available for almost 20 million people.

Tracy Higgs

Product Lead, NHS Digital

Drawing of yellow computer folders connected by lines of data.

Why are we centralising GP data to support research during the pandemic?

We are working with the GP profession to establish a central collection of GP data for vital planning and research to support the coronavirus (COVID-19) response. Dr Peter Short, Clinical Lead GP Data at NHS Digital, explains the new approach.

Peter Short

Clinical Lead, GP Data, NHS Digital

Desktop screen showing yellow coronavirus banner at the top of a webpage.

Ensuring COVID-19 website content is current

Product Manager Rachel Gibson talks about how her team had to move quickly to ensure people who were manually copying coronavirus (COVID-19) content from the NHS website were getting the most up-to-date information in the swiftly evolving circumstances of the pandemic.

Rachel Gibson

Product Manager, NHS Digital

Photo of digital midwives Lorri Allport and Petra Maclening in uniform sitting in an office.

Birth in a time of solitude

Specialist midwife for IT Lorri Allport, looks at how technology has helped support women through pregnancy, birth and post-natal care in rural Lincolnshire during the pandemic.

Lorri Allport

Specialist Midwife for IT, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

How should service design react to COVID-19?

Service designers have had to react quickly to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite the pressure it's a time to still get the basics right according to Dean Vipond, Lead Designer on the NHS website.

Dean Vipond

Lead Designer,

How we are assessing COVID-19 apps

The NHS and innovators are working to develop new mobile products and digital technologies that can help in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

RJ LH IJ

A screen shot of the NHS coronavirus text alert

Creating the COVID-19 text service for vulnerable people

A small group from NHSX, NHS Digital, NHS Business Services Authority and the Behavioural Insights Team has developed a text service for those most threatened by COVID-19.

Isaac Smith

Lead Technical Architect at NHSX,

Coronavirus information on a Google knowledge panel

Modularised content: Google knowledge panels

NHS Digital Product manager James Lumgair talks about how the NHS website is getting trusted, accurate health information in front of more users than ever before through 'knowledge panels' on Google search result pages.

James Lumgair

Product Manager, NHS Digital

Data saves lives

Tom Foley, Senior Clinical Lead for Data at NHS Digital, writes about the power of data in health and social care.

Tom Foley

Senior Clinical Lead for Data, NHS Digital

How I learned to code

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, cyber security graduate Lianne Potter describes how she retrained to become a coder after redundancy and is now protecting the NHS from cyber threats.

Lianne Potter

Cyber Security Graduate, NHS Digital,

An image of a chatbot and modularised content

Modularised content: What's next?

NHS Digital Product Manager James Lumgair gives an update on the project to make specific sections of content on the NHS website available to syndicators, so more people can get accurate, NHS-assured information wherever and however they need it.

James Lumgair

Product Manager, NHS Digital

An image of a brain with computer leads representing artificial intelligence

Regulating AI in health and care

Matthew Gould, CEO of NHSX, explains why he convened a round-table of regulators to talk AI, and what the plan is.

Matthew Gould

Chief Executive Officer, NHSX (until 31 January 2022),

NHS Digital cyber security apprentice Peter Robinson

My cyber security journey

NHS Digital's Peter Robinson takes us through his journey from apprentice to professional within the Cyber Security team.

Peter Robinson

Cyber Security Advisor, NHS Digital,

Pharmacist Paul Rolfe at work using the Real Time Exemption Checking system

From the front line: Pharmacy exemption checking

The Real Time Exemption Checking service automatically tells pharmacy systems when someone is exempt from paying for their prescriptions. Pharmacist Paul Rolfe looks at how Real Time Exemption Checking is improving dispensing for patients and pharmacy staff.

Paul Rolfe

Pharmacist,

Ten years fighting for a single language

SNOMED CT is the clinical vocabulary for electronic patient health records across the NHS. Denise Downs, Principal Terminology Specialist, talks about the ‘major stock take’ that the implementation of SNOMED CT across general practice involved and how she gained the support of clinicians.

Denise Downs

Principal Terminology Specialist, NHS Digital,

Creating an integration toolkit for NHS login

Rebecca Jarratt, lead delivery manager for NHS login partner onboarding, explains how the NHS login team worked with organisations to develop a self-service toolkit that supports them to adopt NHS login – while ensuring the team maintains control over the integration process.

Rebecca Jarratt

Lead Delivery Manager, NHS Digital

A man wearing an NHS rainbow lanyard using a phone to access online services

Making digital services more inclusive

The NHS digital service manual helps teams make their services more respectful and inclusive. But it’s not always easy to get it right as Sara Wilcox, the content designer on the team, explains.

Sara Wilcox

Senior Content Designer, NHS.UK,

Yellow envelope covered by a blue security lock (line art) on a blue background

Does cyber security have to be painful?

Dan Jeffery, Head of Innovation, Delivery and Business Operations at NHS Digital’s Data Security Centre, explains how automation within NHSmail is delivering improved cyber security.

Dan Jeffery

Head of Innovation, Delivery & Business Operations,

A computer hacker sat in front of a screen, yesterday

How TV gets cyber wrong

Hackers and cyber attacks feature in many films and television programmes, but are these portrayals accurate? Hecham Mrabet, cyber security specialist at NHS Digital, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how a cyber security centre runs in real life.

Hecham Mrabet

Senior Security Specialist, NHS Digital,

Good questions can help forms glean useful information

How to write good questions

The NHS digital service manual team has published new forms guidance that will help digital health teams design better forms and transactional services.

Sara Wilcox

Senior Content Designer, NHS.UK,

Is cyber a man's world?

Cyber security still has an out-dated image of being a masculine profession. Charlotte Roe, Cyber Security Apprentice at NHS Digital, talks about her job and why women are needed in the world of cyber.

Charlotte Roe

Apprentice, NHS Digital,

Technology companies and innovators have told us should be the focus as NHSX seeks to drive a user-centered approach to digital transformation across our health and care system.

What do innovators think?

When NHSX launched in July, it committed to serving users’ needs and creating an environment that nurtures innovation. Lisa Hollins, Director of Innovation Delivery at NHSX, talks about what innovators are telling her should be the system’s top priorities.

Lisa Hollins

Director of Innovation Delivery at NHSX,

Why is there an 8am rush on the NHS App?

Josh Dresner, User Researcher, has been digging deep into users' experience of the NHS App. He has found some GP practices using the app to transform access to services, while others are still stuck in old ways.

Josh Dresner

User researcher,

Phil Radford when he worked as a paramedic for the London Ambulance Service

View from the frontline: Dealing with mental health as a paramedic

The next phase of the National Record Locator launches soon, allowing ambulance trusts to access mental health information at the point of care. Business analyst and former paramedic Philip Radford talks about what this means for people on the frontline.

Phil Radford

Higher business analyst, National Record Locator Programme,

How we're improving cyber security

As we kick off Cyber Security Awareness Month, NHS Digital’s Interim Chief Information Security Officer Dan Pearce explains how NHS cyber security has been strengthened over the past two years.

Dan Pearce

Interim Chief Information Security Officer, NHS Digital

Image of a laboratory worker checking notes whilst operating a pipette

Welcoming new health data research hubs

Research partnerships can save and improve lives as long as they are underpinned by robust and ethical frameworks.

Image of a laptop computer showing a sign reading "We need you!"

The NHS digital service manual needs you

Ben Cullimore, a senior interaction designer at NHS.UK, explains how we’re developing a collaborative approach to building the service manual

Ben Cullimore

Image of a mobile phone using fingerprint identification

Citizen Identity – the evolution of username password security

How do we give the public secure access to their healthcare data and NHS services? Lead Delivery Manager Richard McStay talks about NHS login and the NHS Digital Citizen Identity team’s work to ensure people can prove their identity when signing up for online services.

Richard McStay

NHS login Lead Delivery Manager, NHS Digital

A young female assists an older man to use an ipad

Widening digital inclusion

How can we all learn to fail well? This is the question asked by Nicola Gill, Digital Programme Lead at NHS Digital, who has been working in partnership with Good Things Foundation charity to support the most excluded in society with accessing digital health services and tools.

Nicola Gill

A person looking at the NHS chickenpox content on a smart watch

Modularised content: The future of the NHS website

Content modularisation of the NHS website will help our content reach more people via search engines, voice-activated devices, chatbots and wearable devices. NHS Digital Product Manager James Lumgair explains more.

James Lumgair

Product Manager, NHS Digital

Picture of Ian Roddis presenting a digital service manual show and tell

Making digital services accessible

Ian Roddis, Lead Product Manager for the NHS digital service manual, talks about the new guidelines his team has developed to help people working in digital delivery teams meet accessibility standards in time for September 2020’s deadline.

Ian Roddis

Lead Product Manager, NHS Digital

How we are talking to Alexa

The NHS website team has worked with Amazon’s Alexa team to offer health information by voice search. Eva Lake, Head of Engagement for the website, explains how the collaboration is working.

Eva Lake

Head of Engagement, NHS.UK,

Read our earlier blogs

Read our earlier blog posts.