Health and Social Care Data Board meeting minutes: August 2024

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• CS - Scottish Government Official

Board members

• Colin Birchenall (CB)
• Jonathan cameron (JC)
• JD - Scottish Government Official
• TG - Scottish Government Official
• Scott Heald (SH)
• Karen Hedge (KH)
• LH - Scottish Government Official
• AK - Scottish Government Official
• MM - Scottish Government Official
• Eilidh McLaughlin (EM)
• BO'B - Scottish Government Official
• PR - Scottish Government Official
• Alison White (AW)

Programme team

• RA - Scottish Government Official
• CC - Scottish Government Official
• RG - Scottish Government Official
• GW - Scottish Government Official

In attendance

• MEB - Scottish Government Official
• FC - Scottish Government Official
• Nicola Edge (NE)
• MAF - Scottish Government Official
• ML - Scottish Government Official
• Christine McLaughlin (CM)
• SN - Scottish Government Official
• CR - Scottish Government Official
• SR - Scottish Government Official
• MS - Scottish Government Official
• KT - Scottish Government Official

Apologies

• Roger Halliday (RH)
• SC - Scottish Government Official
• Heather thompson (HT)
• Angie Wood (AWo)

Items and actions

Welcome, Introductions and Apologies.

CS welcomed everyone to the thirteenth meeting of the Health and Social Care Data Board.

CS welcomed PR as a new member of the Data Board as the Digital Health and Care representative for the Primary Care Data and Intelligence Board; and Christine McLaughlin, Director of Population Health at Scottish Government.

CS welcomed Nicola Edge, Deputy Director, Head of Health and Social Care Analysis, Scottish Government who presented agenda item three with AW and SH on behalf of Angie Wood.

CS welcomed MEB, Head of Information Security and Risk, Scottish Government, who presented agenda item four.

CS also welcomed FC, Business Change Manager and Data Governance, NHS National Services Scotland and MAF, Head of Data Integration, Strategy and Governance, NHS National Services Scotland who supported SN, Data Standards Team Leader, Scottish Government on agenda item six.

ML, Digital Capabilities Policy Team Leader at Scottish Government; CR, Digital Health and Care Briefing Manager at Scottish Government; SR, Principal System Analyst at Scottish Government; MS, Inclusion and Engagement Policy Team Leader at Scottish Government; and KT, Lead Technical Architect at Scottish Government, attended as observers.

Apologies were noted from RH, SC, HT and AWo.

Minutes, Action Log and Policy update

The Board noted:

• an amendment was required to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 30 April 2024 to reflect that TG had joined Data Board to represent the National Information Governance Forum. The minutes are published on our website
• all presentations from the previous meeting have been issued to board members.

Completed actions:

• ED to forward the A Clause used in the NHS that provides the process and definitions used with the NHS for consideration. 
• RA and RG to discuss informing COSLA of the amendments of the NCS Bill so that permission can be sought for COSLA to engage on the proposed amendments.  
• MG, JR, SH, CS and AK to take forward lessons learned and discussions from 30 April meeting to further develop the process in the alpha product.
• MG/AK to follow up with JD to discuss the statutory duty and responsibilities of social care, where the data is held and its links to operating care recordings.  
• AK to follow up with CB to discuss arranging a follow up session with Local Government Officers to discuss technical design and technical architecture of “Data for Insight.”
• SC to invite MG to bring a detailed roadmap with timescales to the next Data Board in August 2024 or via correspondence in advance of this.  
• SH and JC will follow up with JD around the work going on with Local Councils to establish crossover. 

Policy Updates were shared with Board members prior to the meeting. Any feedback should be provided directly to RG and RA.

Jonathan Cameron provided an update on Path to Balance:

• Emergency financial controls are in place which will result in challenging decisions being made. Board members were asked to be mindful of the impact this will have on progress and delivery of workstreams.

Next Steps:

SC to amend minutes from the April meeting to reflect that TG is representing the National Information Governance Forum.

SC to combine actions 87 and 89 on the action log.

Social Care Data and Intelligence Programme Board (SCDIPB)

SH, Nicola Edge and AW provided an overview of the workstreams of the Social Care Data and Intelligence Program Board.

The overview covered:

• the current structure and aims of the board 
• how this board engages and is intending to engage with other boards 
• an overview of the current workstreams and an update on the implementation plan and these workstreams.

The Board was asked:

• to note the work taking place by SCDIPB workstreams
• to feedback and advise on the Implementation plan and workstreams, highlighting any concerns.

The Board discussed:

• the importance of engaging relevant stakeholders in conversations on the wider sharing of data
• the process of prioritisation on the sharing of data in social care data workstreams
• the opportunity of linking in data from the Shared ARC programme and using the platform for automation of data
• the value of providing feedback to suppliers of the system to enable improvements to be made
• engagement with care providers in the independent sector to ensure they are represented in this work
• the importance of having representation from members of the community within the communications and engagement workstream
• the differences in definitions and misunderstandings of automated data.

Next steps:

SH to share the process for prioritising data requests received as part of the Changes to Social Care Data Workstream.

SH to follow up with JD on sharing good practice to improve efficiency and minimise unmet needs; and provide Board members a short glossary on acronyms and definitions on data and standards.

SH and LH to discuss how the SCDIPB work links in with the National Information Governance workstreams.

Nicola Edge to ask DC to follow up with KH on becoming a member of the Care Home Data Working Group.

SH to follow up with Jonathan Cameron on technical requirements.

Information Governance Progress update

MEB and LH provided an overview of the priorities for the National Information Governance Programme (NIGP).

The overview covered:

• a recap on the aims of the National Information Governance Programme  
• the strategic commitments and priorities of the programme including successes and lessons learnt:
  • undertaking engagement to raise awareness and collaborate to co-produce a federated Information Governance (IG) framework for health and social care
  • continuously improve IG tools and approaches
  • developing operating model for federated IG framework.

The Board was asked:

• to provide a collective view on whether the approach and priorities identified will provide maximum impact with consideration to the current financial climate
• whether the current collaboration and co-design efforts are enough and welcome recommendations on further co-production opportunities
• to provide any specific recommendations for the forthcoming co-design workshops (strategic focus) and whether this is the right approach.

The Board discussed:

• the priorities identified and suggested that these are revisited with a focus on what needs to be achieved in the next 12 months the complexity of information governance and recognised it is a long-term programme that will require time to progress and tackle the challenges
• the importance of being able to set out clear timescales for completing this work and demonstrating ongoing impact as the work progresses
• the importance of developing an accessible narrative that can be used by Scottish Government and stakeholders to tell the public what a modern health and social care system looks like and encourage engagement and wider buy in to streamline the approach and align with the aims of the programme
• the importance of extracting elements of the IG framework and long-term vision that can be prioritised in the next 12 months to address some of the current IG challenges

The Board agreed:

• a narrative needs to be developed in plain English that is easy for people to understand
• further engagement is required to develop a collective and shared understanding that will be made clearer through the co-design efforts
• it would be useful to see a summary of outputs from the workshops/pilots
• NIGP should progress with the most impactful items next and provide evidence to show progress and learning from the last two or three years in terms of what the known challenges were for the system around information governance and assurance.

Next steps:

LH and MEB to reflect on the comments and questions raised and will bring this back to the board at a future meeting.

RA to follow up with LH on public engagement and building a narrative around the Data Strategy.

TG to follow up with SH on how to bring in external resources of IG to discuss new ways of working.

SC to share invitation to the workshop with Board members.

Data Strategy Delivery Plan Update

GW provided an update on the Data Strategy for Health and Social Care Delivery Plan.

The update covered:

• an overview of progress of the deliverables for the Data Strategy and deliverables that are at risk
• key areas of concern which include:
  • delays to developing a technical blueprint
  • delays to decision of aligning Digital Front Door/National Digital Platform and the Integrated Record
  • no identification of lead delivery partner to progress work in relation to data catalogues
  • lack of milestones provided by delivery partners will make it difficult to monitor and track progress of delivery in the year ahead.

The Board was asked:

• to provide feedback on the content of the delivery plan
• input on the deliverables with notable risks and provide feedback on any mitigating activity the Board needs to take
• to provide a view on if they feel assured about the progress of the Data Strategy
  • if not, agree mitigating actions that should be taken.

The Board discussed:

• the need for a review on the prioritisation of deliverables to ensure resources are used in the most impactful way and maximise the outcome
• the concerns and potential risks on certain deliverables that don’t have clear milestones and pathways to delivery
• the importance of collaboration especially at a time of limited resources
• the possibility of combining certain deliverables.

The Board agreed:

• there is good progress and collaboration on the deliverables mentioned but the prioritisation of deliverables should be reviewed to ensure that high impact deliverables are being prioritised
• more information is required on deliverables with notable risks in order to provide comprehensive feedback on the next steps of those deliverables.

Next steps:

GW to contact SY in the SNOMED CT programme about API links to the Terminology Server for inclusion in the API catalogue.

BO’B to ask the Clinical eHealth Leads to provide a new representative for the November meeting as BO’B is retiring.

RA to follow up with MM to discuss deliverables related to digital exclusion, protected characteristics and the use of chatbots.

Data Maturity Programme - Cohort 3 Update

SN, MAF and FC provided an update on the latest cohort of the Data Maturity Programme.

The update covered:

• an update on the Data Maturity Programme cohort 3 & 4 and how this could potentially extend into the wider health and care sector
• the benefits to organisations taking part in the programme including feedback from NSS on their involvement in Cohort 3:
  • gaining the confidence to act
  • learning from others
  • making progress more quickly
  • understanding what to do next. For example, using the outputs of the assessment to develop data objectives which enabled a mutual understanding of terminologies.

The Board was asked:

• to actively encourage health and social care organisations to participate in future Data Maturity Programme cohorts.

The Board discussed:

• the positive experiences of the programme in learning and collaboration – it’s not an accountability or assessment tool but an improvement tool.
• linking this programme with other digital maturity workstreams for consistency so they all work in tandem.

The Board agreed:

• to note the update.

Next Steps:

CS to follow up with JD, CB, AK, SN, ML and MEB to discuss the use of assessment tools.

CS to follow up with CC and MS on a discussion for signposting to other platforms and/or websites to share the value and impact of the programme.

CB to share the outcome of the Local Government data survey on data capabilities with Board members.

Any Other Business

Next Data Board meeting: Tuesday 03 December 2024 14:00-17:00)