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What's new

Find out what's happening with the service manual.

Latest updates

August 2026

Updates to the service manual in August 2026
Section Update
Accessibility guidance

Updated guidance to get an independent accessibility audit

Community and contribution

Added new Coming soon page

Updated Contribution criteria to reflect current practice

Added Eleventy theme to Community resources page

Content guide

Updated guidance on Writing NHS messages

Added new entries to content guide for "data" and "third party"

Design system

Added new features to the table component including a sortable table, compact, striped, scrolling and reverse (dark background) styles

Added an "all" option to the checkboxes component

Added a reference list of override classes

Updated guidance on how care cards (the pattern to help users decide when and where to get care) work and how to write content for care cards

Added frontend version number to design system examples and a guide to checking your frontend version

Updated wording about terms of use on Start page pattern

Updated character count component to mention new data-count-type

Added JavaScript on-off toggle to components that use progressive enhancement

Removed frontend version 10 banner and callouts

Moved WCAG 2.2 callout content into normal page content

Standards and technology

Updated page about Personal Demographics Service (PDS)

Added details of updates made to NHS service standard pages since publication

Other

Added hero image and restructured service manual home page

See all updates or find out what's coming soon.

Latest blog posts

Posts by the service manual team and community.

One design system is better than 2

Published on: 21 April 2026

NHS England Design Matters blog

Frankie and Ananda explain why the NHS design system is not just for public-facing services, with an overview of recent changes to meet the needs of staff-facing services. There's also more change coming, and you can get involved too.

Making the NHS design system fit for the future

Published on: 31 October 2025

NHS England Design Matters blog

Tero Väänänen explains why the NHS design system exists and why it plays an important role in fulfilling the 10-year health plan. He also describes recent changes to the frontend code behind the design system, and why it is important for teams to adopt them now.

See all blog posts