Inside FDP - part 4: The NHS data model | Computer Weekly

NHS data standards exist for decades, with national submissions enforcing schemas and coding frameworks defining vocabularies, yet data remains inconsistent. Meaning is not determined only by the model describing data; meaning is determined by the product that captures it and how well it fits the clinical process it supports. In the wider NHS, 220 Trusts run differently configured systems and produce data that uses the same labels but carries different meanings. A referral in one Trust may not match the meaning of a referral in another, even when both satisfy validation rules, leaving downstream users unable to detect differences. Downstream consistency efforts act as a sticking plaster because inconsistency is introduced at data entry. Even teams using the same model, codes, and EPR system can produce divergent meanings when the product allows variation. FDP uses the Canonical Data Model to structure, label, and connect NHS data consistently across Trusts.

"The NHS has had data standards for decades. National submissions enforce schemas, coding frameworks define vocabularies, and the data is still inconsistent. The reason is that the meaning of data is not determined only by the model that describes it - it is determined by the product that captures it, and its fit to the clinical process it supports."

"The problem is not just within individual organisations - it is across the whole NHS. Two hundred and twenty Trusts, each running differently configured systems, each producing data that uses the same labels but carries different meanings. A referral in one Trust may not mean the same thing as a referral in another, even though both pass the same validation rules. Nobody using the data downstream can tell."

"National submissions exist to impose consistency after the fact, but they are a sticking plaster on a structural problem. The data was not consistent when it was created - no amount of downstream processing can fully restore what was lost at the point of entry. Two teams using the same model, the same codes, and the same electronic patient record (EPR) system can produce data that means fundamentally different things. The model was faithfully implemented but the data diverged because the product allowed it."

"The Canonical Data Model (CDM) is the standard data model that FDP uses to define how NHS data is structured, labelled, and connected across every Trust in the country. It"

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