Community and contribution – Backlog of components and patterns

The service manual is built on the research and experience of many digital teams in the NHS. We have a shared backlog and encourage people to contribute.

Anyone can:

• propose, develop or contribute to new components or patterns
• suggest improvements to anything in the design system or other parts of the service manual

Our community backlog is held on GitHub, an open collaboration space we use. It's split into 3 sections:

• design system (styles, components and patterns) backlog on GitHub
• content guide backlog on GitHub
• practices and ways of working backlog on GitHub – includes Accessibility guidance and the NHS service standard

Issues in the backlog can be:

• proposed – someone has suggested a new component or pattern
• to do – the proposed component or pattern has been agreed and is ready to work on
• in progress – someone is actively working on the component or pattern
• published

Find out what the team is working on now on our Coming soon page.

Updated: August 2026