NHS Digital has signed a deal with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and DXC technology that will map administrative and clinical codes across different health and care organisations easier and faster all thanks to a new terminology server.
Clinical safety will improve over time as health and care suppliers and organisers will have access to consistent technology mapping capability which supports integrated care.
A single-supplier procurement is provided by the deal and gives health and care organisations across the UK a secure and efficient route to procure a terminology server. The server will allow a central NHS Digital Terminology Server to share system reference data by buyers.
The NHS Digital Terminology Server will allow planners and researchers to draw upon the data from the server and create their own data bases. The server will act as a translation service, supporting other tools like the NHS Data Dictionary.
Nicholas Oughtibridge, Principle Data Architect at NHS Digital said: “Recording data once and then reconciling, comparing and sharing the data safely has been a long-standing challenge across the NHS.
“Ontoserver has the potential to transform the way in which data is captured, shared and analysed across health and care.
“The capabilities that Ontoserver delivers are key to enabling data from disparate systems to be safely and meaningfully exchanged between care providers, researchers and service planners
“NHS data is already a valuable tool in fighting disease and finding new courses of treatment, but having access to more localised data, more quickly will have a real boost for researchers.”
Colin Henderson, Industry General Manager at DXC UK, said “Speaking a common language is essential for integrating healthcare and improving patient care. This agreement is a major step forward for the NHS in driving interoperability through the delivery of a common terminology across national, regional and local healthcare ecosystems”.
“The adoption of international health standards such as HL7 FHIR, and terminology sets such as SNOMED CT, are central to DXC’s interoperability solutions and the value they drive to unlock greater insights in health data.”
Dr David Hansen, CEO of CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre, said : “Ontoserver already forms the foundation of Australia’s national clinical terminology platform, enabling integrated healthcare and helping healthcare professionals respond to patients’ needs appropriately,” Dr Hansen said.
“A shared health language is fundamental to innovation in healthcare around the world. Australian companies already using Ontoserver will find another market providing their local terminology using familiar software, while improvements to the software through this partnership will also be available for use in Australia.”
Rhidian Hurle, Medical Director NHS Wales Informatics Service & CCIO NHS Wales said “Structured, standardised and clinically meaningful data is fundamental to ensuring high quality data drives decisions to improve outcomes within our Health Service.
“The implementation of an NHS Wales Terminology Service is a significant development in our vision to deliver to the people of Wales first-class digital health and care services which will enable more effective, efficient, safer decision-making by providing access to content-rich, person-focused health and care data and information.”
Article source: https://digital.nhs.uk/news-and-events/news/nhs-digital-terminology-solution
Tracy is an Editor and Marketing Director who helps healthcare professionals and technology companies work together to digitise the UK healthcare system. After many years of helping award winning technology companies bring their innovations to the UK market she launched the Health Tech Digital resource platform which keeps healthcare professionals up to date with industry news and technology solutions for their establishments. Tracy is also the Marketing Director of Reborn Marketing Ltd and has worked with both private and public sectors focusing on technology in the UK for the past 7 years. If you have news you would like to share or would like to get in touch regarding your healthcare technology solution you can reach Tracy at tracy.williams@healthtechdigital.com.
