NHS service standard - 17. Make your service interoperable

In an organisation as diverse and complex as the NHS, we need systems and services which talk to each other. Build for interoperability to share patient records and get data quickly from one place to another.

Why it's important

Connected systems make it easier for the public and health professionals to access and share the information they need. Interoperability helps make sure that data is communicated accurately and quickly and that patients get seamless care.

What you should do

Your team should be able to show that:

Guidance

GOV.UK resources

In the GOV.UK service standard, open standards are part of point 13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns.

Here are some useful GOV.UK resources.

Read more about this

Help us improve this guidance

Share insights or feedback and take part in the discussion. We use GitHub as a collaboration space. All the information on it is open to the public.

If you've gone through a service assessment or peer review, we're especially interested to hear from you.

Read more about how to feedback or share insights.

If you have any questions, get in touch with the service manual team.

Updated: April 2023