Organisational attendees

• National Voices
• Office of the National Data Guardian
• Association of Medical Research Charities
• Nottingham University Hospitals Trust
• Healthwatch
• Understanding Patient Data
• Royal College of Surgeons
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
• Patients Association
• NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board
• North West London Integrated Care System
• Information Commissioner’s Office
• UNISON
• BMA
• RCGP
• NHS England
• Department of Health and Social Care
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

Apologies received

• RCGP
• Information Commissioner’s Office

Actions and decisions recorded

Meeting notes

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed all members to the call and noted any apologies.

Introductions of new members took place as well as noting any conflicts/declarations of interests

Minutes from previous meeting

The minutes were asked to be amended to remove named contributors, and be approved by the group via email.  

A request was made for an update on the NHSE Pilot Programmes to be added as an agenda item for a future FDP Check and Challenge Meeting.

Action: NHS England Pilot Programmes to be added as an agenda item for a future FDP Check and Challenge Meeting.

Information governance update

The Head of Information Governance provided an update to the group.

The opt out paper that was presented to the Check and Challenge Group on Friday 15 December has now been presented to the System Information Governance Group and the Specialist External Information Governance Group. Both groups have provided feedback and an updated draft of the paper is in development.

The FDP Information Governance Framework is in the final stages of drafting and the final version will be shared as soon as internal approval is completed.

The FDP National Data Governance Group has been established and the first meeting will take place on 22nd February 2024. The group is designed to look at all FDP products that will be placed onto the FDP to ensure that they are lawful. The Head of Information Governance emphasised that the group’s scope does not include agreeing the use of products, just ensuring they are lawful. The membership of this group include NHS England Professionals, Caldicott Guardians, SIROs, and the membership looks to include representation from ICB and Trust level across all Regions.

Work has commenced with the FDP transition team and suppliers to complete FDP product specific DPIAs. The Head of Information Governance outlined that these documents will be shared with the FDP Information Governance Groups, and will be approved at the FDP National Data Governance Group.

An FDP FOI process has been created with the NHS England FOI Team in anticipation of receiving a volume of FOIs from our stakeholders. This will support the programme to be able to answer these requests in a timely manner.

A query was raised regarding the need for the Check and Challenge Group to provide written feedback on the Information Governance Framework. It was confirmed that the FDP Information Governance Groups have largely fed into the development, but it would be shared with FDP Check and Challenge Group members to flag any further significant feedback via email.

Action: NHS England to share the Information Governance Framework with the FDP Check and Challenge Group members to collate any final significant feedback.

A query was raised regarding the DPIAs timeline with reference to the end of March 2024, and the requirement for any prior consultation. The Head of Information Governance advised that the overall FDP DPIAs have been shared with the FDP information Governance Groups and will be shared with the FDP Check and Challenge Group for review and feedback. For the FDP product DPIAs, they will go to the National Data Governance Group followed by an internal process for each of the Data Controllers. The Head of Information Governance is working with FDP Transition Leads to develop timelines for each of the individual tenancies. The reference to the end of March 2024 is in relation to the National FDP products which are products already in use and therefore do not require a large-scale consultation. The Head of Information Governance confirmed that national FDP products will also go through the National Data Governance Group and then on through the NHS England process which will be expeditated for specific products due to go live in March 2024.

The group were keen to see the timelines for the DPIAs, including when these are due to come to the FDP Check and Challenge Group, to be able to prepare for timely review and feedback and enable continued transparency.

Action: FDP Programme Team to share the forward agenda planner for the FDP Check and Challenge Group.

Action: FDP Programme Team to share the overall FDP DPIA with the FDP Check and Challenge Group.

A query was raised in relation to the scale of the development, management, monitoring changes, and publication of the FDP DPIAs. The Head of Information Governance confirmed that the products are categorised, split into cohorts, and mapped into a wave of implementation. There will be approximately over 100 DPIAs required across the waves of implementation and this is regularly reviewed. The Head of Information advised that in the event of a product changing the purpose or amount of data that is being collected, a new DPIA will be required before that change can be enacted. The FDP Programme will publish as much as possible, with appropriate redactions when sharing technical and commercially sensitive information.

A query was raised in regard to the structure and hierarchy for the role of Information Asset Owner. The FDP Senior Responsible Officer asked the group members to support the development of this narrative and control governance structure.

Action: FDP Check and Challenge members to support the development of the control governance structure, including the role of Information Asset Owner.

FDP-AS and PET update

The FDP Programme Director provided an update on FDP-AS and PET. Media coverage regarding a potential influencer campaign, initiated by the FDP-AS contract, was noted. NHS England confirmed that it had not approved any communications campaign relating to the Federated Data Platform. and that the matter was being investigated.

Communication was provided to the Check and Challenge Group on the publication of the FDP-AS Contract which includes redactions. The FDP Programme Team continue to work with the supplier to refine key elements, and will ensure the Check and Challenge Group are informed ahead of the intention to publish the updated contract publication.

The FDP Programme Director provided an overview of the upcoming milestones. The intention is, by March 2024, the FDP will be ready to go live and transition activities will commence, which will be delivered in waves. The aspiration is to reach 71 sites by the end of this calendar year, with the programme already having 46 trusts onboard that are pilot sites. The current pilot sites will be supported in readiness for transition.

The FDP Programme Director outlined that the FDP continues to be a learning programme which enables the learning from the pilot sites to help expedite roll out and ensure the demand process is as efficient as possible as the programme moves into active pipeline management.

The FDP Programme Director outlined the core FDP products currently in place. This includes Care Coordination Suite, OPTICA, Virtual Wards, Timely Care Hub, Cancer 360, and System Control Centre.
The group agreed it would to helpful to continue to receive updates like this into the FDP Check and Challenge Group.

Product demonstration

A demonstration of the Care Coordination product was shared with group members from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust representative.

The group queried whether the FDP products would increase or decrease the need for data entry from Clinical staff. It was confirmed that, in the example given, Clinicians are experiencing a decrease in data entry and this is due to developing key data points to inform decision making as well as access to wider data points if required.

The group asked for further information on the tools’ ability to propose patients to fill slots. The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust representative outlined that the tool has the ability to automate patients medical fitness stages, as well as the availability of patients at short notice. This has allowed capacity within pre-op teams to be freed up to focus on engagement with hard to reach patients.

The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust representative outlined that they are continuing to work with colleagues at NHSE to understand the health inequality agenda and how it can been able us to leverage technology to better understand the population we service and prioritise according to population needs.

The group thanked the FDP Programme Team for delivering the demonstration.

Any other business and close

A query was raised as to whether there have been any trends emerging from the patient portal/engagement activities around concerns on data use. The FDP Communication Lead advised that the programme have received low levels of queries that have covered a number of topics, and has informed the development of communication materials. The FDP Communication Team have also had sessions with Regional Communication and Engagement Teams to develop further clarity at a local level.

Action: FDP Programme to share summary report from the patient portal with FDP Check and Challenge members.

A query was raised on the ability for GPs to understand the infrastructure on sharing data. The group recognised that this forms part of a wider topic area of opting-out. Agreement for the next Check and Challenge meeting to include an agenda item on the large scale public engagement work on opt-outs, and to incorporate the feedback from this group on the need for further support in definitions, descriptions and communications on the different types of opt-out and how they are applied. The group noted that initiatives to try and control data in individual systems did take place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Action: Large scale public engagement to be included as an agenda item for the next meeting.

A query was raised as to whether the roll out of products would mirror that of the product demonstrated today. The FDP programme Delivery Director outlined that incubator sites are used to establish which functionalities within the products are scalable. The Care Coordination product and OPTICA are more or less standardised and will build in functionality from incubator sites. For other products the programme will look to bring those up to a robust state before piloting them and templatising for further roll out.

A request was made during the meeting for the FDP Programme Team to reach out to Gloucestershire system to support engagement.

Action: FDP Programme Team to reach out to Gloucestershire system for system engagement.

The chair noted the potential change in RCGP representation going forward.

It was confirmed that the notes from these meetings will be published on NHS England’s website and a link to them can be shared with whoever has an interest in them.