NHS: Databases
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of supplier lock-in risks in relation to the NHS Federated Data Platform contract.
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. 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 benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As at end May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The contract for the NHS FDP has multiple measures, including ensuring the NHS owns the intellectual property for all the products and that they can be migrated to alternative providers, to ensure transparency, interoperability, and a smooth transition at the end of the contract period. These provisions are designed to mitigate vendor lock-in and support the NHS in maintaining control over its data and digital infrastructure.
The platform is underpinned by the NHS Canonical Data Model, which provides a consistent and open data schema that all parties connecting to the NHS FDP must use. This ensures that data can be shared and understood across different systems and platforms.
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