techUK’s Interoperability Charter for Health and Social Care
As part of the Digital Place campaign week 2022, the exciting time has come for techUK to relaunch its Interoperability Charter for Health and Social Care, which sets out a set of key principles to help enable the change needed to deliver better integrated health and care.
Lots of companies have already supported this work in the past, and we are now asking you to reaffirm your commitment to the Charter, following the work done by techUK’s Interoperability Working Group to update it over the past year. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the members that have led this work.
The Charter can be accessed on this page, along with the form we are asking companies that want to renew their commitment, and then send to [email protected].
Why you should sign up to the Charter
Developed in good faith by techUK members, the voluntary Charter, aiming to provide thought leadership, outlines a set of principles that members commit to adhering to ensure their systems become enablers of change and help to drive the digital transformation of health and social care. It is not equivalent to signing a legal document or a contract. The focus is on raising awareness of the importance of interoperability.
If you were previously involved in this work, you will see that this is now simply about renewing your commitment to the Charter. As highlighted in our recent response to the draft Standards and Interoperability strategy published in April, interoperability needs to become a core part of all digital transformation projects if we are to achieve the vision set out in this document:
A health and social care system that enables all relevant care information to be accessible by those who have a legitimate right to do so, at the point of need, no matter where it is held
Interoperability Charter Procedures: How companies sign up to the Charter
- In order to become an official signatory of the Charter, a representative from your organisation who has Profit and Loss responsibility must email the Health and Social Care Programme Team ([email protected]) to provide confirmation that the organisation will adhere to the principles outlined in the Charter. The organisation must also provide a high-resolution company logo.
- techUK will periodically update the list of logos on the website to include new signatories. It is the responsibility of the signatory to inform techUK of any changes to their company logo.
You can find below more information about the background to the Charter. If you would like to arrange a call to discuss in more detail, please contact the Health and Social Care team.
Background to the Interoperability Charter
The Interoperability Charter was first published by techUK back in 2015, after former NHS England CEO Simon Stevens’s Next Steps on the Five Year Forward View proposed new models of integrated care to radically transform the traditional boundaries between primary, secondary, community, and social care. techUK members that supply to the health and social care market welcomed these changes and wanted to make a meaningful contribution by making information systems more open and easier to integrate, enabling the free-flow of patient information between products, and hence across the care continuum.
The Charter, developed and approved by the then techUK Health and Social Care Council, with input from the wider techUK membership, took forward core principles outlined in techUK’s paper Our Vision for Interoperability, published in March 2015. The document set out the changes that members wanted to see to deliver radical service transformation.
In 2017, the techUK Health and Social Care Council added an Addendum to the Charter clarifying definitions included in the original document to help make it easier for companies to sign up.
techUK and members’ recent work on the Charter
Over the past year, the techUK Interoperability Working Group has been working on an updated version of the Charter to reflect the changes that we’ve seen in the digital health and care space since its initial launch, which has now (2022) been approved by the techUK Health and Social Care Council.
Following the Addendum made in 2017, we published our Manifesto for Matt, NHSX was launched, the Future of Healthcare vision paper and the NHS Long Term Plan were published, and we saw lots of changes in the space brought about by COVID-19, along with other developments. In February 2021, we released our flagship paper, the Ten Point Plan for Healthtech, which made 10 recommendations to position the UK as a leader in the digital health and care space. Since, we’ve continued to work closely with the standards and interoperability team at NHS England and Improvement, and we’ve seen recommendations made on interoperability taken forward included in the most recent publication of the draft Standards and Interoperability strategy. With the relaunch of the Charter, our aim is to encourage the development of an ecosystem underpinned by the vision set out by the aforementioned draft strategy. We also just released this week our latest paper, Right from the start: what should Integrated Care Systems prioritise to make digital, data and technology work for them and their populations?
Legal status
Suppliers that sign up to the Charter are only making a statement of intent. There is no commercial or contractual commitment, implied or otherwise, in being a signatory. Purchasers are advised to add specific clauses to their procurement contract to ensure that suppliers make available the required interoperability functionality, particularly the support for UK Core and associated ISNs, but only where the content of the message is defined along with the method to produce and consume that content.
Alex Lawrence
Alex Lawrence
Alex joined techUK in July 2021 as Programme Manager for Health and Social Care. Since July 2023 Alex has led the Programme.
Alex formerly worked at Portland Communications, joining as part of their 2019 Graduate Scheme intake. In March 2020 she joined Portland’s Health team, supporting a range of clients in the life sciences industry across both public affairs and strategic communications.
Alex has a degree in History from the University of Cambridge, focussing on Early Modern Europe and material culture. Outside of work she enjoys reading, finding new places to eat, and running.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07963 501 791
- LinkedIn:
- linkedin.com/in/alex-lawrence-509a8b166
Robert Walker
Robert Walker
Robert joined techUK in October 2022, where he is now Programme Manager for Health and Social Care.
Robert previously worked at the Pension Protection Fund, within the policy and public affairs team. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Parliament, advising politicians and industry stakeholders on a wide range of issues, including rural crime and health policies.
Robert has a degree in Politics and International Relations (MA Hons) from the University of Aberdeen, with a particular focus on strategic studies and energy security. Outside of work he enjoys activities such as running, rugby, boxing and cooking!
- Email:
- [email protected]
Viola Pastorino
Viola Pastorino
Viola Pastorino is a policy, governance, and strategic communication specialist.
She joined techUK as the Junior Programme Manager in the Health and Care Team in April 2024.
She has obtained a Bachelor of Sciences in Governance, Economics, and Development from Leiden University, and a Master's programme in Strategic Communications at King's College London. Her academic background, leading up to a dissertation on AI policy influence and hands-on campaign development, is complemented by practical experience in international PR and grassroots project management.
She is skilled in qualitative and quantitative analysis and comfortable communicating findings to varying stakeholders. Above all, she is deeply passionate about the intersection of technology and government, especially how technology and global discourse shape one another, the processes that lead to belief polarisation and radicalisation of communities, and crafting strategic narratives that steer public discourse.
Outside of work she loves reading, live music light operation, and diving.
Clara Hewitt
Clara Hewitt
Clara joined techUK in October 2023. She brings experience across a range of domestic and global health issues, with particular focus on digital health, HIV/AIDS and climate change and health.
Clara holds an MSc in Global Health and Development (University College London) and a BSc in Psychology (University of Birmingham).
