NHS Federated Data Platform – beyond acute

Imagine a healthcare journey that doesn’t reset every time a patient moves from one setting to another.

Where information flows seamlessly between hospital wards, community clinics, mental health services, and children’s care – creating a continuous story rather than disconnected chapters.

For too long, healthcare data has been held in silos, creating barriers between the places where patients receive care.

While the NHS Federated Data Platform has already delivered significant impact in acute hospital settings – over 4.6 million patient records have been validated – its potential reaches far beyond hospital walls.

That’s why the Transforming Operational Delivery (TOD) workstream has been established, to extend the power of connected data across community and mental health services and support the shift towards neighbourhood-based models of care.

We focus on understanding the challenges faced across community and mental health services and identifying where the NHS Federated Data Platform can improve patient outcomes, faster access to care and more co-ordinated pathways.

Our work and progress to date

We began our expansion with mental health trusts in July 2024, where frontline teams identified crisis care response as a critical challenge.

This led to the development of the Crisis Response product, improving how services manage urgent referrals, prioritise risk and co-ordinate care.

Early benefits from pilot sites show faster response times, improved visibility and increased staff productivity.

In January 2025, we extended our focus to community services, working collaboratively with trusts to identify shared operational challenges such as long waiting lists and limited visibility of demand and capacity.

Working in collaboration with East of England Community Health and Care (formerly Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust) a waiting list management tool has been developed to support children and young people’s neurodevelopmental pathways, where long waiting times have been a significant challenge, mirroring pressures felt nationally.

Early findings from incubation show improved visibility and coordination of waiting lists, increased staff productivity, and more patients ready for appointments, progressing through pathways.

As this work has now extended from the pilot phase, the approach will be expanded into different settings to further test and develop its impact.

By addressing these critical operational issues, this will start to lay the foundations for neighbourhood working outlined in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, enabling the delivery of the right care, in the right place, at the right time within local communities.

Join us in shaping the future

We take an insight-led approach. We don’t start with technology, we start with understanding the operational challenges and pain points faced by professionals in these settings.

We identify opportunities where NHS Federated Data Platform can deliver measurable improvements, whether through existing proven capabilities or new, co-designed solutions.

The power lies in supporting teams to co-ordinate care more effectively, see what matters sooner, to help to make better informed decisions. In challenging circumstances, timely insight can help teams work more efficiently, reduce avoidable pressure, and focus their time where it has the greatest impact for patients and the people delivering care.

This is where you come in.

We’re looking for representatives from community trusts, and mental health trusts, including those working in CYP services to help us create an offering that reflects the unique needs of your patients and practitioners.

By joining our user forum, you’ll:

• help shape NHS Federated Data Platform tools that address your most pressing pain points
• ensure solutions are tailored to your specific operational challenges
• contribute to transforming service delivery across non-acute settings
• be part of driving the NHS’s shift from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention

Don’t miss this opportunity to influence how data supports care beyond hospital walls.

Join our collaborative workshops, participate in user forums, and help co-create solutions that will transform care delivery for your patients.

To express interest in participating, please contact us at england.fdp@nhs.net.

Together, we can create seamless journeys through connected data that moves with patients wherever they receive care – helping to build an NHS truly fit for the future.

Support for NHS staff

More information and guidance for NHS staff regarding the NHS Federated Data Platform is available from the NHS England website.