Background

Current Proxy access is inconsistent and hazardous due to a lack of standardisation across Health or Care Organisations, negatively impacting Patients and Health or Care Professionals.

Additionally, existing Proxy access is limited by local implementation, preventing access to services across different GP Practices and wider NHS services. This is caused by a lack of shared Proxy information between Health or Care Organisations, leading to duplication and a poor experience for Patients and carers.

A National Proxy Service will be established to enable portability, expand the services available to Proxies and enable national campaigns and messaging on digital channels.

This Roadmap Item introduces Verified Candidate Relationships. The Validated Relationship Service - FHIR API is used to surface Verified Candidate Relationship data to streamline the Proxy registration. Initially the mother child relationship will be surfaced, followed by second Parent and future verified relationships.

Outline Plan

The Proxy programme of work will follow a phased approach across the following Roadmap Items:

Phase 1: Enable Proxy requests into General Practice workflow:

1. RM256 Mandating Proxy Access and enabling Proxy access for baby Patient Registrations

2. RM263 Verified Candidate Relationships (This Roadmap Item)

Phase 2: Adoption of the Proxy Access Standard for digital health and care services:

1. RM267 Proxy visibility

Phase 3: Integrate with the National Proxy Service to enable portability and expand the services available to Proxies:

1. (Roadmap Item TBA) National Proxy Service: Enables integration with the National Proxy Service.

2. (Roadmap Item TBA) Online Proxy Requests: Allows Patients and Proxies to submit Proxy access requests online.

Incentivised Pilot

This Roadmap Item is subject to an incentivised pilot rollout, targeting deployment across a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 70 designated GP Practice pilot sites (Or such other number as agreed between the Supplier and the Authority). The Authority supports the identification of Proxy pilot sites. These pilot sites will serve as a controlled environment to:

1. Validate the functionality and effectiveness of the Roadmap Items.

2. Test and refine associated communications materials and training approaches.

3. Identify operational or technical adjustments needed prior to wider implementation.

To ensure equity and transparency the incentive will be structured to reflect delivery dependencies, which may vary across Suppliers. The Authority reserves the right to tailor incentive availability per Supplier to account for differing technical baselines, readiness levels, and integration complexities.

This incentive amount is applicable to Catalogue Solutions which are live in GP Practices in England at the time of publication of this Roadmap Item.

Post-Pilot Review and Iteration

Upon completion of the pilot phase:

1. The Roadmap Item will be reviewed and, where necessary, updated to reflect findings and lessons learned.

2. Any such updates will be jointly assessed by the Authority and participating Suppliers to determine whether changes constitute a material impact to the Roadmap Item’s Effective Date.

3. If applicable, the Effective Date and deliverables may be adjusted accordingly, subject to mutual agreement.

National Rollout Coordination

Following successful validation through the pilot phase, the national rollout of the Roadmap Item will be coordinated by the Authority. This ensures that a consistent and effective training and communication programme is available to all End Users.

Summary of Change

Full Specification

• Patient Information Maintenance - GP v10.0.0 Capability

• Validated Relationship Service Standard

Assurance Approach

• Assurance will be completed through the Digital Onboarding Service (DOS). All requirements in the DOS will be acknowledged and confirmed by the Authority.

• Suppliers will be assessed against this Epic as per the Capability Assessment process and this will be a high level assessment based on the Acceptance Criteria defined.

• Suppliers will be asked to demonstrate their mitigations against the pre-identified risks through completion of the NHS England Solution Assurance Capability Risk Log submission.