£35m offered to improve connectivity between NHS enterprise data platforms

NHS England has published a procurement notice for a commercial partner who can deliver new and improved enterprise data platforms protected by advanced privacy and data security

Plans for a multimillion-pound new technology and data platform for a standardised level of privacy and security of patient data across the NHS are being announced in a procurement notice.

The new commercial partner is being sought for the delivery of a new national system dubbed NHS Privacy Enhancing Technology (NHS-PET).

This system must: “provide robust protection and deliver a standard approach to support safe data use including data privacy treatments and ensuring appropriate data access” to sensitive patient information, according to the procurement notice.

The chosen data system will be used as a standardised approach to sensitive data

The platform, estimated to cost up to £500 million, will replace the NHS COVID-19 Data Store, which was implemented near the start of the coronavirus crisis for operational information data sharing.

The new data protection platform will potentially include cloud-based software-as-a-service solutions for data privacy and protection across numerous data stores in the UK.

This data system will also support the new NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) – which is a major national system coming out in late 2023 for hospital trusts and integrated care systems (ICSs) to create their own platform within local NHS entities.

To be used across NHS England in conjunction with various data platforms

While being connected to FDP, the data platform privacy system “will be used across NHS England in conjunction with various data platforms”, according to the commercial notice.

Set to potentially include other national data systems at a local and national level, this platform must be able to cover the country’s network of 240 trusts and 42 ICSs.

The aim is to ensure all databases and sharing between organisations are protected by a consistently high level of privacy and data security based on open standards.

The NHS will appoint a supplier to an initial three-year contract worth £5 million a year to the chosen firm.

Potential bidders must enable the system to be widely deployed and easily integrated. Bids for the contract are open until 26 July.