Department plans for discovery phase on new version of National Minimum Dataset for Social Care
The Department of Health (DoH) has begun to work on a project to build a new version of the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care (NMDS-SC), the online service that pulls together a range of data from organisations in the sector.
It has indicated that it regards the existing system as no longer fit for purpose following an earlier examination, and plans to commission a discovery report on a replacement.
One of its priorities will be to make it as easy as possible for users to input data. The system makes it possible for anyone in social care to add data – on subjects including pay rates, demographics and qualifications – but its own introduction video acknowledges that it can take some time.
Another priority is to ensure the system can connect with a system run by the Care Quality Commission, which inspects and regulates health and social care services.
The DoH is aiming to complete the discovery report by February 2018.
The NMDS-SC system has been collecting data since November 2007, and now contains information from more than 20,000 care providers and on over 700,000 workers in the sector. It is widely used by policy-makers and employers, but is open to receive data and for viewing by anyone in social care.
Image by justgrimes, CC BY-SA 2.0 through flickr