Engagement - News and Updates

NHS Somerset’s Engagement Team, in collaboration with our Digital Team and Healthwatch Somerset, has been actively engaging with communities, partners, and residents to understand people's views on the Somerset Linked Data Platform (SLDP).

The SLDP is being developed by the Somerset Integrated Care System (ICS) to securely and ethically bring together annonymised data from health, social care and other public services. Its purpose is to help partners across Somerset better understand the needs of our population, plan services more effectively and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for local people.

By linking data from different organisations, the SLDP will provide a fuller picture of how people use services which will support proactive, joined up care and help to reduce health inequalities.

The project is being led by the Somerset ICS through the NHS Somerset Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) programme and is a collaboration between:

• NHS Somerset
• Somerset Council
• Primary care, community and acute providers
• Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) partners
• Supported by national and regional NHS partners where relevant

Why is it important?

The SLDP will:

• Enable better insights into population health and service demand
• Support earlier interventions and better coordination of care
• Help the system target inequalities and address wider determinants of health
• Improve data quality, consistency and transparency across organisations
• Ensure the data is held and used safely, with strong governance and ethical oversight

Why has it been developed?

Currently, data about people's health and care is stored in separate systems across different organisations which makes it difficult to see the full picture of someone's needs or to understand how services interact.

The SLDP has been developed to:

• Build a secure, locally controlled platform that links information from across the system.
• Avoid reliance on external vendors and ensure local control, governance, and flexibility.
• Deliver the “integration and governance layer” needed for population health management.

Why your feedback matters

Public trust and transparency are central to the SLDP.
We want to ensure that Somerset residents understand:

• What the platform does and what it does not do.
• How their data is anonymised, protected and governed
• How public views will shape decisions about how data is used to improve care.

Your feedback helps us design a platform that reflects the values, priorities, and expectations of our communities.

Engagement activities currently underway

To ensure a broad and inclusive conversation, NHS Somerset Engagement and DDaT teams,  together with Healthwatch Somerset have launched a wide‑ranging programme of engagement activities, including:

• An online survey open to all Somerset residents.
• Community events and conversations with patient groups, VCFSE partners and the public.
• Targeted engagement to reach under represented and seldom heard groups
• A social media campaign explaining the SLDP and its benefits

Engagement to date

We have now delivered 53 engagement events across Somerset, reaching a wide variety of communities through:

• Online workshops
• Community groups and talking cafés
• Partner and provider team meetings
• VCFSE networks
• Hard‑to‑reach and seldom‑heard groups
• Culturally diverse community groups

These conversations are ongoing. We continue to attend events, community sessions, and partner meetings to raise awareness of the SLDP, to listen to and respond to any questions or concerns raised by residents.