It is our belief that organisations that provide technology solutions to the UK Health Service, and particularly the NHS, have a responsibility to behave ethically and morally with regard to their commercial behaviour.
Moreover, due to the unique nature of the NHS, and the fact that it is a publicly-funded organisation, those of us proud to serve it and provide technology solutions to improve the service, recognise that it is incumbent upon us to provide the highest standard of service and not to profiteer from our activities either solely or in joint enterprise. We therefore make the following four key pledges.
we pledge…
1
To deliver interoperability solutions fairly and equitably
We will not exploit interoperability work for commercial gain. We believe the cost for integrating our technology with other supplier systems is not something the NHS should have to directly fund.
2
To not charge the nhs for access to each other’s systems
System integration is for the benefit of the whole NHS and should not be used to generate additional revenues or to restrict competition through prohibitive interoperability costs.
3
To put customer choice first
Despite any commercial partnerships with other suppliers, we pledge to not overtly or covertly misuse our respective capabilities to block, delay or hinder any interoperability work for the NHS. The choice of suppliers and speed of implementation should be determined by the buyer, not manipulated by the supplier. We pledge to never allow our own commercial interests to slow down innovation or integration.
4
To bridge all technology capability gaps, wherever possible
We pledge to work with existing technology solutions within the NHS and enable the NHS to take advantage of new technologies. The NHS has existing technology that, whilst old, is not redundant and our solutions need to ensure they are interoperable with these solutions in the short term. We will provide a pathway for customers to take advantage of new technologies efficiently and effectively.
