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Guest blog: Lorraine Foley, Chief Executive Officer, the Professional Record Standards Body

Since launching in February this year the PRSB Standards Partnership Scheme has gone from strength to strength, expanding as tech suppliers to health and care organisations recognise the overall value of information standards and become Partners. But the Standards Partnership Scheme (SPS) is about more than implementing information standards. Through the scheme we are engaging and connecting on a much deeper level with the community of suppliers that uses (or could use) our standards.

The organisations joining the SPS are demonstrating leadership in their field. Working with us to develop standards together, through a process that involves expert advice and review, we are laying the foundations for interoperability, recognising that getting the content of our standards right is a prerequisite for achieving interoperability.

The PRSB and our standards have the backing of NHSx and NHS Digital and the support of the wider system. Published last month NHSx’s What Good Looks Like framework - NHSX is leading the way in supporting digital transformation at both system and organisational level and cites PRSB standards as “improving care and enhancing collaborative and multidisciplinary care planning, and as part of the drive to ensure smart foundations “; “using an array of digital tools and services alongside PRSB standards” and “the delivery and development of an ICS-wide shared care record (ShCR) which adheres to the PRSB’s Core Information Standard”.

Working closely with techUK and its membership is a vital part of this mission to support a vibrant market for digital health and care technologies by making standards-based information in health and care the norm. We want techUK members to be aware of our work and informed about our plans for the future. PRSB can’t develop effective standards in a silo. Our Partners are our allies and tackling standards together is the only way to go. We’re listening to our Partners to understand the environment from suppliers’ perspectives and the more voices we can hear, the more confident we are we’ve got this right.

Our first Quality Partner, Nourish Care were assessed by our clinical and other experts, who have an in-depth understanding of how the standard should be used, for conformance with the personalised care and support plan standard. Working together taught us things and resulted in changes to both the standard and their system, which is implemented in over 1500 care homes. So we can see where working together is making a difference.

One of our early Partners, Cerner said: “We are excited to partner with PRSB and we hope to share our experiences to positively impact the future development of industry standards. We believe that aligning to and supporting PRSB standards are essential steps to supporting the national interoperability journey.” Andrea Dantas, Director of Physician Exec.

The PRSB is keen to ensure techUK members are aware of its work and are informed about activities such as public consultations and workshops that we hold to review standards under development, as well as the opportunities to work more closely with the PRSB as a part of the Standards Partnership Scheme. Standards adoption and implementation give suppliers, as our Partners many benefits, the opportunity to collaborate and influence whole agenda, while we are all working towards the ultimate goal – that of interoperability.