New feeds allow Welsh health boards to send data to DHCW

Four national data feeds have been implemented through the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) to connect health data across services in Wales. 

The NDAP was developed as part of a Welsh government-funded programme to transform health and social care in Wales by making it easier to access, share and analyse information safely.

Health boards in Wales can now send data directly to Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), reducing the need for separate reporting to multiple partners.

The feeds, which went live from 28 April 2025, cover four areas: theatre optimisation, audiology, referral to treatment, and district nursing.

Alison Jenkins, data warehouse and acquisition lead at DHCW, said: “The team demonstrated exceptional dedication and effort to meet tight deadlines, successfully developing four new data pipelines concurrently.

“This has been a particular achievement, given the team had to master new cloud technologies and create multiple submission pipelines to accommodate health boards at various stages of their Google Cloud journey.”

All four data pipelines are technically ready, and DHCW is receiving live data from two of these datasets from health boards, with work continuing to collect live data from the remaining feeds.

The Information Services Department (ISD) within DHCW processes, analyses and publishes a wide range of NHS Wales data.

Health boards and trusts also routinely send aggregated data to the NHS Executive, which is then used in reports to Welsh government.

Subject to the right governance, NDAP could become the single route for collecting and sharing national data in Wales, helping to streamline data sharing and improving the quality and timeliness of performance reporting.

The ISD team, with support from the NHS Executive’s digital intelligence team, worked to develop, test and implement these new national data collections.

The move also lays groundwork for wider use of NDAP to improve the speed, consistency and accuracy of data submissions.

Jenkins added: “This endeavour has been a significant learning experience, with numerous lessons gained along the way.

“We are now looking forward to our collaboration with NHS Executive, NDR, standards and health board colleagues on our Google Cloud platform journey together.”

Meanwhile, serious concern has been raised by the Welsh government about the ability of DHCW to deliver major programmes.

It was moved to level three on the government’s intervention framework in March 2025 for performance and outcomes related to delivery of major programmes.