Inside FDP - part 3: The data architecture that makes it work | Computer Weekly

"The NHS data community includes people who have built genuinely sophisticated platforms: linked datasets spanning acute, primary, mental health, and community care; population-level risk stratification; near-real-time dashboards used 24 hours a day in system control centres; embedded analytics inside clinical systems; write-back capabilities pushing data into GP records."

"But even the best of these platforms share a common architecture - the data lives in a warehouse, the descriptions live somewhere else (in a catalogue, a wiki, or a developer's head), and the applications that capture or display the data live somewhere else again. Three separate things, connected through extracts, feeds, and bespoke integrations that the team maintains by hand."

"The analytical tools sit alongside the clinical systems, not inside the operational workflow - the clinician works in one place and the data team works in another. The two are connected, sometimes impressively, but the data, the tools, and the actions still live in separate places. A Frontline-First approach requires them to be in the same place."

NHS data platforms can link datasets across acute, primary, mental health, and community care, support population-level risk stratification, provide near-real-time dashboards, embed analytics inside clinical systems, and enable write-back into GP records. Many strong platforms still share a common architecture where data resides in a warehouse, descriptions are stored separately in a catalogue or wiki, and applications that capture or display data are located elsewhere. These components are connected through extracts, feeds, and bespoke integrations maintained manually. Analytical tools often sit alongside clinical systems rather than inside the operational workflow, requiring clinicians and data teams to work in different places. A frontline-first approach requires collapsing this separation by bringing components into the same place.

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