The DH currently sees a number of strategic development priorities for NHSD in the period from 2016 through to the end of the financial year 2017/18, but reserves the right to alter these following the Chair's capability review.
Each of these is reiterated in Annex A - DH expectations of NHSD.
1. Cultural change towards a professional service model of delivery, further embedding the functional changes enacted in April 2016 and progressing organisational engagement, compliance and reporting.
2. Completion of a robust, externally facilitated, formal review of organisational capability and the generation of a comprehensive implementation plan and enabling workforce strategy. It is expected that early implementation actions will focus directly on securing delivery of Personalised Health and Care 2020. A section of the review will, in addition, have a particular focus on building digital capability and reviewing other 'hard to fill' professional roles.
3. Develop a 'whole organisation' business implementation plan and associated reporting which effectively balances the requirements of the Personalised Health and Care2020 programmes with existing activity, statutory functions and direct commissions to deliver expeditiously, effectively and within the requisite annual and overall spending review funding envelope.
4. Modernising the information and analytics approach to harness benefits of greater automation and ensure improved data quality.
5. Work to support effective use of data in the health and care system, which sets out NHSD's contribution to and timetable for data science and an engagement with 'big data', including learning best practice.
6. Respond to the cross-cutting themes of the DH Single Departmental Plan, ensuring that all relevant parts of NHSD work together to support relevant priorities, objectives and milestones.
7. Implementation of the National Data Guardian's Review and working with DH and key stakeholders on the wider cyber security agenda.
8. Deliver existing policy requirements and commissions (for example but not limited to Breast and Cosmetic Implant Register, e-MED 3 aggregated data flows to DWP, implementation of the
MoU with the Home Office for tracing data).
Download Annex A: Department of Health to NHS Digital deliverables for 2017/18