Health and social care: data strategy

Annex A – Delivering Our Strategy

To achieve our vision and ambitions we have focused our Strategy on eight priority areas. For each area we have outlined the initial actions we will seek to take under the priority areas. As we continue to build on the Strategy we will expand and refine these deliverable actions, and ensure they are aligned with the overall Delivery Plan for Digital Health and Care.

Ethical Approaches to Data

We want to embed an ethical, open, and human rights-based approach to the use of health and care data in Scotland which maintains public trust and confidence.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will improve the quality and consistency of protected characteristics data, including ethnicity data, to ensure that we provide equitable care for everyone who requires care in Scotland. This will be supported by RDS developing the Equality Research Dataset to improve the ability of researchers to study issues of access to, and outcomes from, the health and social care systems for different protected characteristics.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Public Health Scotland
Research Data Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will improve the provision and signposting to information about how individuals’ data is used by the health and or care services they are accessing.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS24
COSLA

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

The Public

What we will deliver

Through our programmes of work on Digital Inclusion, a National Information Governance Programme and the development of a Digital Front Door, we will articulate how non-digital access to data will be facilitated, ensuring individuals’ rights to data about them are always upheld.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

The Public

What we will deliver

We will continue to encourage the use of well-defined ethical frameworks when accessing and using health and social care data, ensuring fairness for the people of Scotland. This includes building on the work of our Ethical Digital Nation and Unlocking Value of Data programmes to update the principles contained in this Strategy.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA

When it will be delivered by

Ongoing

Who is it for?

The Public

Data Access

We want to empower individuals and professionals to make better-informed decisions by providing access to the right data at the right time.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will create a new Digital Front Door, that will support individuals in accessing a range of self-serve health and social care services from a digital source. Digital Front Door will be incrementally built to increase access to health and social care data and services. A first release of the Digital Front Door will be launched in late 2023.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government
NHS National Services Scotland
NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

The Public

What we will deliver

We will co-create a means for the public to contribute to their health and social care records, giving them a voice in the information that is presented to health and social care professionals through the Digital Front Door programme of work.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

The Public

What we will deliver

We will improve GP IT systems by adopting cloud-based solutions, and improving the technology used to store and share data to unlock the value of primary care data, including for research.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will work together to develop and maintain clear and easy to use documentation on data sources. For example, developing a central data catalogue that can be used to describe data that is available on an open or shared basis. This will build on existing catalogues; develop a shared set of interconnectivities and definitions to manage data as a national data set.

Who is leading this work

NHS National Services Scotland
Public Health Scotland
NHS Education for Scotland
Care Inspectorate
SSSC

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will develop a consistent model for public participation and engagement as we explore the use of health and social care data. In line with the participation principles highlighted above this will see the routine use of co-production methods. Our engagement will be transparent and inclusive, highlighting how views will be incorporated. This approach will encourage wider public understanding, awareness and trust, and build upon our ongoing engagement in line with Open Government principles.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA
NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Ongoing

Who is it for?

The Public

Talent and Culture

We want to attract, develop, support, and retain a workforce that is confident and competent in the use of data. This includes: all staff having essential data skills that help us all to better manage the information we all depend upon and advanced data skills that help us to create more insight from data.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

Through wider work set out in ‘Care in the Digital Age’. we will support, further develop, and expand our specialist Digital, Data, and Technology (DDaT) professional workforce by conducting a review of roles, career pathways and training needs to inform recruitment and retention.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government
NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

NES will lead, with a range of stakeholders on the development of a national learning and development resource for data and digital skills that can be accessed by all health and social care staff across Scotland.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

Through the National Information Governance Programme we will create clear guidance on data handling and sharing to empower staff to effectively access and share data.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will equip our staff with the ability to understand and interrogate data-driven recommendations and decision support tools, including those powered by Artificial Intelligence.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Health Improvement Scotland
NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will ensure that appropriate processes, networks, and channels are in place to facilitate and support the sharing of good practice relating to digital technologies and digital skills.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government
NHS Education for Scotland
SSSC

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

Protecting and Sharing Data

We want to improve the efficiency, consistency and transparency of how our IG practices are evaluated with an increased focus on public engagement.

We want to keep health and social care data safe and secure and to maintain public confidence and trust in our management of data.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will set clear National IG direction for health and social care by establishing a National IG Programme, aligning relevant strategies and strengthening the IG ambition to maximise the realisation of benefits from digital and data-driven health and social care innovation.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will develop a cyber security strategy for health and social care, which we will publish to help drive collective effort from all the parts of the health and social care system.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS National Services Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will develop a privacy by design code of conduct for use in the health and social care sector.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

Technology and Infrastructure

We want to make sure that we have the technology and infrastructure in place to equip us to better collect, store and use data. This includes: structured data held within databases, unstructured data and information held in paper records, near real-time data from sensors and the Internet of Things.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will set out a Technical Roadmap for Scotland which sets out the target architecture for improving data infrastructure across the health and social care sector.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will adopt a national approach to the ethical, transparent consideration of adoption and implementation of AI based tools, products and services. This includes beginning work to create a national policy framework for the use of AI, including the viability of an AI Hub for the NHS in Scotland.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will review technology solutions for identity access and monitoring with a view to being able to offer NHS staff the ability to access multiple platforms through a single sign-on.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS Education for Scotland
NHS National Services Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will maximise use of existing infrastructure, and support moves to hosting data and infrastructure in the Cloud. This will include developing a Cloud Strategy for the adoption of cloud technologies in health and social care.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will enhance our ability to capture health data once and share many times by expanding the National Clinical Data Store.

Who is leading this work

NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

Through the National Digital Platform, we will publish a registry for APIs in use in Scotland’s health and social care sector.

Who is leading this work

NHS Education for Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will enhance our capability for statistical analysis, reporting and use of predictive analytics, moving to cloud-hosted data storage and reporting system (Seer platform).

Who is leading this work

NHS National Services Scotland
Public Health Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will establish a national decision support service by and embedding the Right Decision Service across health and social care. The programme will support professionals within Health Boards, HSCPs and care organisations to make the right decisions for the people they support.

Who is leading this work

Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre
Healthcare Improvement Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will support the health and social care sector to make use of innovative technology to automate the collection of data and set out a clear intention for the use of automation in the health and social care sector.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

Information Standards and Interoperability

We want to improve the quality of our health and social care data, and drive up interoperability through using common standards, making it easier to re-use data.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will create clear governance on decision making regarding adapting current standards and agreeing implementation of new standards. We will develop a roadmap that outlines the direction of travel for data owners in the health and social care sector and software vendors.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will encourage organisations to reflect on their capability to use data and assess their data maturity by completing digital maturity assessments. This will enable organisations to target data improvements so that they can deliver better on outcomes.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

We will set out information standards for Scotland’s health and social care sector to improve the quality of data and enable successful outcomes of sharing. The proposed National Care Service will consider suitable standards to be implemented in social care, following in-depth engagement. This will precede development of an approach to standards for the safe and effective sharing of information across health and social care, under the powers proposed by the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

Who is leading this work

The Data Board for Health and Social Care
Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will begin a programme of work to implementation of ICD 11 for disease classification. Implementation of SNOMED CT for clinical health terminology will continue as set out in the Strategy for Care in the Digital Age.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS National Services Scotland
Public Health Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will publish metadata that clearly describes information held by organisations, supported by APIs, to aid data discoverability across the health and social care data sources.

Who is leading this work

NHS Education for Scotland
NHS National Services Scotland
Public Health Scotland
Care Inspectorate
SSSC

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

What we will deliver

Through collaboration between NHS National Services Scotland, NHS Boards and Scottish Government, traceability of medical devices and tracking of medical equipment across Scotland will be improved alongside the adoption of GS1 standards following the implementation of the NHS Scotland Scan for Safety Programme.

Who is leading this work

NHS National Services Scotland
Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

The Public
Professionals

Creating Insights from Data

We want to work in partnership with health and social care to adopt a whole-system approach to creating insight from data that allow us to improve services. This includes the creation of insight to: inform communities, inform policy, target interventions and support, improve services and improve partnership working.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will review our current data to understand where collection needs to stop, new collection needs to start, and what approaches to collection, curation and storage need to be adapted to support our vision.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
COSLA
Digital Office for Scottish Local Government
Care Inspectorate
NHS National Services Scotland
Public Health Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Professionals

Supporting Research and Innovation

We want to support research and innovation by facilitating safe access to health and social care data for industry, innovators and researchers so that we can work together to develop better ways of working, better treatments, new medicines and improved services for care in Scotland.

Our Deliverables:

What we will deliver

We will explore how approvals for access to data for research might be accelerated through best practice and standard setting for the operation of data safe havens. We will also consider potential benefits of independent assurance of operating standards in conjunction with the National IG Programme and our work on cyber security.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Research Data Scotland
NHS Research Scotland
Public Benefit and Privacy Panel

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

The Public
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will improve research access to health and social care data by launching a Researcher Access Service that provides streamlined, lawful, fair and safe access and linkage of data for the public good; working with the research community to identify the health and social care data with highest research value; maintaining an up-to-date catalogue of datasets available for research; and publishing a delivery plan for making this data research ready.

Who is leading this work

Research Data Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will work with partners to outline use cases for industry and research access to data, being clear for each about the benefit and risks to the population of Scotland.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

The Public
Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will formalise industry and research representation in strategic governance of health and social care data, ensuring the perspective of research and innovation is consistently represented.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will explore greater use of data-enabled approaches to assessing research study feasibility, and the identification, recruitment and follow up of research participants.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
NHS Research Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will explore (year 1) how to increase and then seek (year 2) to expand the population and data coverage of data safe havens (Trusted Research Environments) to support data-driven research and innovation at greater speed and scale.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Research Data Scotland
NHS Research Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 1-2

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will work to create clarification of the terms for access and use of data for industry projects including the approval and controlled access pathways to ensure ethical use in the public interest. This will be refined with the conclusions of the Scottish Government’s Unlocking the Value of Data programme once completed.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Public Health Scotland
Research Data Scotland
NHS Research Scotland
NHS National Services Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Year 2-4

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will consider the impacts and opportunities to support research and innovation in the design and monitoring of the progress of developments set out in this Strategy.

Who is leading this work

The Data Board for Health and Social Care

When it will be delivered by

Ongoing

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation

What we will deliver

We will examine how we could support collaborative data-driven research and innovation across the UK and internationally where this has public benefits for Scotland, there is suitable agreement and it is ethical to do so.

Who is leading this work

Scottish Government
Research Data Scotland
NHS Research Scotland

When it will be delivered by

Ongoing

Who is it for?

Research & Innovation