Coronavirus programme updates, 15 December 2020

Support delivery of vaccinations

We're leading the technology and data workstream, providing data, analysis and infrastructure to support delivery of vaccination programmes and facilitate post-vaccination monitoring.

Delivering digital services for NHS Test and Trace

NHS Digital is the primary digital delivery partner for Testing within NHS Test and Trace, supports Contain with a series of dashboards plotting the spread of infection within the UK, and provides IT service management and cyber security management for NHS Test and Trace.

Digital channels for citizen guidance and triage

Our citizen-facing channels remain an important “digital front door” for accessing coronavirus services. Through these channels, patients can access information and guidance, self-manage and be routed to the most appropriate care, minimising contact and reducing the burden on clinical staff.

Identifying and protecting vulnerable citizens

The Shielded Patient List identifies patients judged to be at the highest risk from COVID-19. At the request of DHSC, we're also developing digital infrastructure to support a more sophisticated approach to identifying individuals with increased vulnerability to COVID-19.

Enabling remote and collaborative care

We're making data and systems available to enable remote and collaborative working by health and care staff, minimising transmission and managing strained capacity (caused, for example, by practices closed or staff unwell).

Intelligence to support planning

Our data intelligence is being used to provide data, analysis, and dashboards to help the health and care system understand the outbreak. This helps professionals understand prevalence and spread, and gives data to assist planning to manage capacity.

Enabling research and clinical trials

NHS Digital continues to play an important role supporting research into COVID-19. We are facilitating the sharing and availability of data and analyses to support research, enabling evaluation of different response interventions and increasing understanding of COVID-19 transmission, immunity and clinical outcomes. We're also enabling the acceleration of COVID-19 drug and vaccine clinical trials.

Provide infrastructure and support additional capacity

Providing secure infrastructure and supporting additional care capacity through support and logistics for cross-system data access, fast authentication of new users, Nightingale hospital facilities and connectivity to private providers.