Digital Care Services catalogue

The model allows commissioners and primary care (providers) to buy assured digital tools and systems from the frameworks under the DCS catalogue, via the Buying Catalogue.

It allows primary care providers to be able to use a community of approved suppliers who have signed to a set of high technology and data standards, assurance and service management levels, through a catalogue agreement.

The catalogue model is based and having individual capabilities (similar to functionality) and standards which are created based on user needs. This type of model will:

• provide standards and information about the level of compliance each IT solution (approved by the framework) offers
• help to simplify and improve the requirements process
• provide a transparent set of standards to support suppliers and purchasers/users/organisations
• mandate a minimum baseline expected of any supplier without stifling innovation
• support the long term vision to move to a fully modularised supplier offering rathe than the current whole system setup

We will provide a clear roadmap of future capabilities and standards based on demand source needs. Supplier systems can then be developed to meet these needs. The roadmap will give adequate warning to suppliers so they can keep pace with technology changes and better plan their future delivery.

GP IT system suppliers receive requests for system developments from many different demand sources including NHS England and NHS Improvement, NHSX, Department of Health and Social Care. Public Health England, Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), commissioners, suppliers and CSUs.  These requests could be in relation to new legislation, new standards, changes to existing services, the national programmes and other contractual frameworks.

Our Digital Care Services programme are working with both suppliers and demand sources in order to manage change more effectively, based on capacity and demand in the short, medium and long-term, and to ensure its governed appropriately in line with strategic and long-term plan direction.

The GP IT Futures framework was the first framework agreement to be released under the Digital Care Services Catalogue and it is used to control or support the annual GMS general practice systems allocation.

The framework agreement establishes a national GPIT framework between NHS Digital and the supplier which will provide IT services to GPs under a ICB bridging agreement.  Allowing suppliers and buyers from ICBs and CSUs to work with us to improve GP IT.

The DFOCVC framework agreement is the second framework to launch under the Digital Services Framework catalogue agreement. It provides a streamlined route for supplying and purchasing assured online consultation and video consultation systems. 

The GP IT Futures Tech Innovation Framework supports system suppliers as they work to deliver cloud based innovative technological solutions in to the GP market place.