Information underpins health and social care. When your GP makes a diagnosis they have added information to your medical record. If they issue a prescription more information flows to the pharmacist. An information standard describes a common way of managing this information. For example, the NHS Number information standard specifies that your medical records should be identified by a single, nationally unique number. Other information standards define how payments are made to hospitals for treating patients.

The Information Standards Board (ISB) approves information standards for the NHS and adult social care in England. The board consists of all the major organisations involved in health and social care, including the Nursing & Midwifery Council, Monitor and Intellect.

This site provides everything you need to know about the ISB. For more information click on one of the areas below or contact us.

Changes to the ISB

The ISB, currently responsible for setting information standards for the NHS and adult social care in England, will cease to exist from 01 October 2013. As required by legislative changes that came into effect with the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the Informatics Services Commissioning Group (ISCG) will make the decisions on which information standards are to be published and direct or mandate collections.

More information will be posted here as decisions are made.

Users

For NHS and social care.

Developers

For standards developers.

Suppliers

For IT suppliers to the NHS and social care.