
Collaborative approach is key to the widespread use of information standards
“As we grow and strengthen the voice of our members and partners in our work, one thing will remain constant: people will always be at the heart of our work. “
Success in numbers
Front-line staff and people who use services participated in our consultations to develop standards in the past year.

Published more standards than ever
Six in 2021-22 – with a world class suite of personalised care standards that put the tools in the hands of professionals and people.
Gained 30 partner organisations – collaborating with suppliers to realise the vision for connecting and transforming health and care.

"As a UK-wide organisation, PRSB is committed to much greater inclusivity and relevance of our work across all UK nations. Our standards development projects routinely include representatives from Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland."
Prof. Maureen Baker, Chair of PRSB
Highlights and Achievements
Everything we produce and deliver at PRSB is entirely dependent on collaboration, consultation and shared communication. To do this, we strive to create effective working relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, all of whom are important to our work.
The PRSB Standards Partnership Scheme
Within two short years, PRSB’s Standards Partnership Scheme is widely recognised. We have 60 partners from across health and social care suppliers, both large and small.
Launch of the SPS for care provider organisations
In early 2023, we launched an exciting new service to health and social care providers which is complementary to our PRSB’s Standards Partnership Scheme for suppliers.
#CareAboutMe campaign
In spring 2022, we launched the successful #CareAboutMe campaign to promote person-centred care and emphasise the importance of enabling people to share their preferences and needs with professionals.
New membership
This year, we have welcomed 16 new member organisations to the PRSB and made significant inroads in the social care sector.
Launch of implementation toolkits
We've developed toolkits to help health and social care organisations and professionals implement standards.
PRSB Advisory Board discussions
Our Advisory Boards hosted range of discussions which have shaped strategy and approach both within the PRSB and our stakeholders.
New PRSB Board members
In the past year, we welcomed new Board members and said goodbye to those who helped us develop our organisation.
Media and parliamentary engagement
Over the past year, we had the pleasure to contribute to give evidence and view on issues around data and digitisation raised by the Government.
Raising our profile at key events in the sector
PRSB speakers were in great demand in 2022/23 and featured at leading UK-wide events aimed at the digital health and care community.
Published standards 2022/23
This year we have published more standards than ever – with a world class suite of personalised care standards that put the tools in the hands of professionals and people.
Social Prescribing Standard
Social prescribing supports people to improve their health and wellbeing by offering more personalised care based on an understanding of their needs and connecting them to local community, often voluntary, services which can provide help. The Social Prescribing Information Standard enables the sharing and recording of information for the whole patient journey, from initial referral, throughout the period of social prescribing and the message back to the referrer and GP at its conclusion. The standard has achieved an Information Standards Notice, which mandates its use, following rigorous quality assurance by the NHS Data Alliance Partnership Board.
"As a social prescriber, I know how difficult it is to capture everything discussed in a session in a consistent format that can be shared with colleagues from other care providers. I often find myself spending more time tracking information from previous sessions that could be spent working with an individual to help them meet their needs and goals. The standard help Link Workers like me to administer high-quality care and support the true value and impact of social prescribing."
Liverpool-based link worker, Sarah Moreton, professional lead for the project
Looking ahead to 2023/24
“We see a wealth of opportunities for PRSB in 2022 and we have bold plans for expanding our Standards Partnership Scheme, creating a learning system of continuous improvement in standards and promoting adoption of the About Me standard through an exciting and innovative campaign. This work will complement delivering important standards for care that our members have identified as priorities.“
The Standards Partnership Scheme
The scheme is already giving us valuable feedback and in the months to come we believe the standards themselves will become better as more organisations use them and we have the opportunity to learn from case studies and the evidence of success that our partners and customers share.
Creating a learning system
The Standards Partnership Scheme allows PRSB and our partners to test, revise and refine standards through our rigorous assessment process. We are taking the learning from each conformance assessment process and ensuring that we use that information to continuously improve our standards. Thus we are able to ensure PRSB standards are fit for purpose and as a result are useful, usable and used.
Evidencing the benefits of using standards – improving the safety, quality and experience of care as well as reducing the administrative burden on staff by creating time-saving, more efficient ways of working – is vital for making the irrefutable case for their adoption. We are planning to develop a series of case studies focusing on the impact and benefits of the scheme in 2022-23. By publishing and raising awareness of successful adoption of standards we will create the right environment for others to learn and share the benefits of standards adoption.
#CareAboutMe
The campaign aims to raise widespread awareness of the About Me standard, promote the improvements it can make to quality of care and the positive impact it can have on people’s quality of life and health, and contribute towards PRSB’s strategic priority to support the UK-wide commitment to person-centred care in the NHS and social care.
We want everyone to have the opportunity to create an About Me record and every professional to have access to About Me records where they exist. We want suppliers to implement the About Me standard in their systems, working through our Standards Partnership Scheme to showcase the conformance of their systems.
PRSB is discussing how we can get the standard into widespread use with the NHS App team, suppliers and others as the more uptake we create the more people will benefit from a person-centred approach to their care.
PRSB's tech strategy
PRSB’s tech strategy will be addressing how we make our standards usable especially with suppliers. In 2022 we will set out a plan for redesigning and professionalising our technical services so that PRSB’s reputation as the independent and authoritative leader of information standards in the UK is enhanced. The strategy will deliver a simple narrative explaining what standards are and how to use them, it will set out how we will streamline our standards so that they are easier to implement, and we are improving our internal systems and methods to manage our portfolio of standards with greater consistency and coherence over time.
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Standards in development in 2022 for integrated care
Pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, ambulance and community services standard
The PRSB was commissioned by the NHS to define information standards for each of the five care settings, pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, ambulance and community services (collectively referred to as PODAC), with the objective of improving care to individuals through better access to shared care records. The aim of the project is to define the information standard for each care setting so that health and care professionals can access information from a shared care record to ensure that the service being provided is high quality, safe, appropriate and delivers continuity of care as needed by any individual. The project aims to test whether PRSB’s Core information standard could support PODAC information needs. A series of focus groups with professionals tested use of the standard in PODAC settings and two workshops were scheduled to test its use more widely. The findings from the project will inform what information should be shared with PODAC professionals. The project is due to complete later in 2022.
Wound care information standard
Workforce standard
The PRSB is undertaking evidence gathering and a research phase in early 2022 with consultation to follow in the summer and publication of this phase of work to follow in the autumn. Further phases of work on the digital staff passport are being planned.

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Contact us
The Professional Record Standards Body
7-14, CAN Borough, Great Dover St, London SE1 4YR
www.theprsb.org