Standards can support innovation by solving simple problems, allowing IT systems suppliers to focus on the problem at hand. Sometimes they can be a barrier where the standard has not anticipated or is getting in the way of innovation in that area.

The Health and Care Act states that you should have "due regard" for information standards. At its simplest, this means that you should follow them unless there's a good reason why not. If they are restricting innovation in a specific area, then this may be an appropriate time to set the standard aside.

Good practice would be to:

• Document the reasons why the standard is not appropriate. This could be part of ethics clearance.
• Put a plan in place to review the exemption and consider plans for enforcing it in the future.
• If this is a long term issue, contact the standard's maintenance manager so it can be updated. The maintenance manager is listed in the standards library entry.