NHS: Databases
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of whether staff felt able to raise concerns during Federated Data Platform pilot deployments; and what mechanisms exist within NHS trusts for staff to raise concerns about the ethics or effectiveness of digital systems.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation, nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer, and there has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on the benefits realised at the following link:
To date 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
There is no place for bullying in the NHS, and we would urge anyone with concerns to report them. The team that oversees NHS FDP rollout has never raised any related behaviours being observed. NHS England has procedures and support in place for staff to raise concerns about bullying or threatening behaviour, including freedom to speak up policies and whistle blowing procedures.
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