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interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Get expert interoperability Support.

Is your product ready for market?

The key to successful product adoption is not only ensuring it integrates with existing systems and workflows – but that it’s intuitive to use and accessible to all.
Understanding how well your product exchanges data with other systems and ensuring it’s suitable for its intended use are critical to passing the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC).

interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
← Services  
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Get expert interoperability Support.

Is your product ready for market?

The key to DTAC and successful product adoption is not only ensuring it integrates with existing systems and workflows – but that it’s intuitive to use and accessible to all. Understanding how well your product exchanges data with other systems and ensuring it’s suitable for its intended use are critical to passing the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC).

Contact us for more information
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Interoperability

Everybody wants a seamless journey through the health and care system. Once approved for use, your product will become part of that journey.


To make that happen, your product’s interoperability will need to be assessed to ensure data is communicated accurately and quickly, while staying safe and secure. The Interoperability section of the DTAC is a pass or fail assessment.

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Accessibility and Usability

The Accessibility and Usability section of the DTAC ensures your product has followed best practice guidance for development. It also aims to identify if and how user needs have been incorporated into your product design, and how you plan to continue user feedback and engagement in future.


This DTAC section provides an overall compliance rating for your product in terms of Accessibility and Usability.

Contact Us
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Get expert interoperability Support. Book your free, no-obligation discovery call

For a quick and easy way to ensure your product meets the DTAC standard for interoperability, accessibility and usability, book a free, no-obligation discovery call with one of our DTAC experts.

Book your call now
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

Get expert interoperability Support. Book your free, no-obligation discovery call

For a quick and easy way to ensure your product meets the DTAC standard for interoperability, accessibility and usability, book a free, no-obligation discovery call with one of our DTAC experts.

Book your call now
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

What does the Interoperability Criteria involve?

The hardware, software and data within your product must be interoperable, regardless of whether it’s patient-facing or interfaces and communicates with a clinical records system.

High standards of interoperability reduce cost, complexity and delivery timescales for the NHS and social care providers by standardising specifications and integrations. To achieve a pass rating for interoperability, your Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) should:

    • Conform with the Government Digital Services Open API Best Practices (including for the use of appropriate identifiers)

    • Be clearly documented

    • Be freely available with reasonable access for third party integration

How we’ll support you

The interoperability NHS criteria is a pass or fail assessment. Our full support involves

    • Review of your product/ system to assess the likelihood of achieving a pass rating

    • Review of your existing documentation

    • Advice on open API best practices and recommended improvements

      • Development of additional evidence to demonstrate your compliance with the open standards for APIs

      • Access to your personalised DTAC Portal to demonstrate your pass status with links to key documents to support external assurance assessments

    The interoperability criteria is a pass or fail assessment. Our full support involves
    • Review of your product/ system to assess the likelihood of achieving a pass rating

    • Review of your existing documentation

    • Advice on open API best practices and recommended improvements

    • Development of additional evidence to demonstrate your compliance with the open standards for APIs

    • Access to your personalised DTAC Portal to demonstrate your pass status with links to key documents to support external assurance assessments

    What does the Accessibility and Usability Criteria involve?

    The Accessibility and Usability section of the DTAC sets a compliance rating for your product. It also establishes areas of non-compliance where you are required to improve and is scored in relation to the NHS service standard and conformity against NHS best practice.

    interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
    To achieve a high compliance rating, you will need to:
      • Demonstrate you have considered users’ needs – i.e. through user research, search data, analytics or other data, along with your methods of user engagement

      • Confirm and evidence users’ needs have been tested with appropriate stakeholders and that this is part of an ongoing process

      • Provide supporting evidence to show your product solves a whole user problem, or how your product fits into the patient journey

      • Provide supporting evidence to demonstrate you have undertaken user acceptance testing activities to validate the usability of your product

      • Demonstrate compliance with the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA, including a public link to a published accessibility statement

      • Confirm the availability of a multi-disciplinary team with a mix of skills and perspectives

      • Use agile ways of working

      • Provide confirmation that your product is being continually iterated and developed

      • Evidence a benefits use case with clear, measurable objectives and metrics

      • Confirm your product meets the requirements of the NHS Cloud First Strategy and the NHS Internet First Policy

      • Confirm and outline the open standards, common components and patterns you have adopted

      • Outline details of your Service Level Agreement (SLA)
    How we’ll support you

    To help you achieve an optimum usability and accessibility rating, we’ll:

    • Review your product and any accessibility policies in relation to the criteria to help assess your current rating 

    • Work with you to put measures in place to increase your score (where required)

      • Develop supporting evidence (where required) to help you demonstrate and achieve the optimal level of compliance 

      • Provide access to your personalised DTAC Portal to help you clearly evidence your compliance and present your final score in a user-friendly dashboard which is accessible by third-parties

    To help you achieve an optimum usability and accessibility rating, we’ll:
    • Review your product and any accessibility policies in relation to the criteria to help assess your current rating 

    • Work with you to put measures in place to increase your score (where required)

    • Develop supporting evidence (where required) to help you demonstrate and achieve the optimal level of compliance 

    • Provide access to your personalised DTAC Portal to help you clearly evidence your compliance and present your final score in a user-friendly dashboard which is accessible by third-parties

    8foldGovernance have been a great partner of patientMpower, assisting us primarily in information governance and clinical safety analysis and planning. Would highly recommend to any digital healthcare company looking to sell into the NHS.
    Eamonn Costello
    Patient M Power
    When we have a problem to solve or a complex issue to untangle around Information Governance, Adam is there to support us through it. Working with the 8fold Governance team has made our lives a lot easier and built capacity within our team.
    Marc Singh Jones
    Health Unlocked
    The team are pleasant, extremely knowledgeable, thorough, prompt in responding to queries and keen to help in any way they could. The work completed on our behalf definitely exceeded expectations.
    Michelle Whitham
    NHS Thanet CCG

    Frequently asked questions

    What is interoperability?

    Interoperability is all about ensuring different technologies can seamlessly exchange data and information with each other. A positive approach to interoperability reduces expenditure, complexity and delivery times by standardising technology and simplifying integration. In DTAC terms, interoperability means identifying where information may need to be exchanged with other systems and technology that may be in use, and ensuring that this can happen accurately and quickly whilst staying safe and secure. This will usually mean adopting ​​Application Programme Interfaces (APIs) which follow the Government Digital Services Open API Best Practices, are documented and freely available, and can be accessed by third parties so that different technologies can be integrated and used alongside one another.

    Why is interoperability needed?

    The importance of interoperability in health and social care and its role in seamlessly integrating digital health tech products and systems across boundaries cannot be overstated. Interoperability allows information and data to be shared and exchanged seamlessly so for example, information about patient medications, allergies, intolerances and/or prescriptions, can be used across all NHS and social care clinical IT systems to improve clinical safety, efficiency and patient outcomes. Whilst this is clearly beneficial for patients, it also allows staff to focus on care delivery, helping to further improve patient experience.

    What is usability and accessibility?

    Usability and accessibility in DTAC ensures that a health tech product or system has followed best practice as set out within the NHS service standard.

    Why is usability important?

    In DTAC, usability is used to measure the quality of the user experience when they are interacting with a health tech product or system. It assesses the approach that has been taken to understand users and their needs when designing the technology, as well as the range of skills within the team which are drawn upon when building and operating the service to ensure this remains safe and secure at all times. It also assesses how the technology supports users’ ability to effectively accomplish their goals quickly, easily and in a joined up manner as well as the approach to improving the technology over time in response to testing, performance monitoring, feedback and changing needs. Together this ensures that a product or system is “user friendly”.

    A product with good usability creates a satisfying user experience which can in turn increase usage and productivity. Commissioners will often select products with good usability so investing in usability testing can save health tech companies time and money in the long run by exposing design flaws before they are rolled out.

    Why is accessibility important?

    Accessibility in DTAC ensures that all users, and particularly those with health conditions or impairments, can access the product or system effectively without compromise. The DTAC also encourages technology which is intended to be used in the NHS to learn from the research and experience of others in this area and to avoid repeating work that’s already been done by adopting common styles, components and patterns already developed by other technologies which are used across the NHS and UK Government. Prioritising accessibility in the design and delivery of the product or system increases the usability for all users, regardless of their personal ability.

    Do the Interoperability, Accessibility and Usability sections of the DTAC need to be completed?

    Yes, you cannot achieve DTAC compliance without these elements included as part of your overall DTAC submission. You must be able to demonstrate expected interoperability standards to pass the DTAC and your score against the accessibility and usability criteria allows your product to be assessed in comparison to other similar products and services.

    How is the Accessibility and Usability section of the DTAC measured?

    Each section (or code) of the Accessibility and Usability section of the DTAC is weighted differently with the score ranging from 2.5% to 20%. The maximum percentage you can be awarded for each section is dependent on how you meet the scoring criteria. 

    You are not required to achieve 100% against the Accessibility and Usability criteria in order to be compliant with the DTAC, however this section allows your product to be assessed in comparison to other similar products and services.

    Get expert interoperability Support. Book your free, no-obligation discovery call

    For a quick and easy way to ensure your product meets the DTAC standard for interoperability, accessibility and usability, book a free, no-obligation discovery call with one of our DTAC experts.

    Book your call now
    interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability

    Get expert interoperability Support. Book your free, no-obligation discovery call

    For a quick and easy way to ensure your product meets the DTAC standard for interoperability, accessibility and usability, book a free, no-obligation discovery call with one of our DTAC experts.

    Book your call now
    interoperability Interoperability, Accessibility & Usability
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