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Standards and interoperability

The NHS Standards Directory contains nationally mandated standards and non-mandatory standards that are widely used or strategically important. It is a signposting service, not the full specification. “Active” indicates lifecycle status; it does not alone make a standard mandatory. Approved national information standards with an Information Standards Notice are mandatory only within the notice’s specified scope and timetable. SRC-013

The current authority is Health and Social Care Act 2012 sections 250–251 as amended. DUAA Schedule 15 changes in force from 5 February 2026 expressly cover relevant IT and IT services and strengthen the compliance framework. SRC-034 SRC-035 SRC-036 SRC-037

Applicability method

For every candidate standard, record:

  1. exact title, reference, version and status;
  2. Information Standards Notice or other authority;
  3. organisations, systems, care settings, data and use cases in scope;
  4. implementation and full-conformance dates;
  5. dependencies and clinical-safety responsibilities;
  6. current specification and any consultation/replacement;
  7. why the standard is mandatory, conditional, recommended or not applicable to this flow.

Use the generated NHS standards applicability register. Then read shared-care and GP Connect, terminology and identifiers, and clinical safety and security.

Conformance makes a lawful flow safer and more interoperable. It does not create the legal purpose or access entitlement.

For digital access, the register also distinguishes Accessible Information’s scoped section 250 mandate, DAPB4031’s section 259 usage-data collection, the non-mandated NHS App API technical specification, and WCAG 2.2’s scope-dependent legal/contractual role. See 10 Year Health Plan and digital-first implications for their place in the policy and delivery pathway.