A platform from the NHS,
helping the health and social care sector
connect and collaborate

About FutureNHS

The FutureNHS Collaboration Platform is the only virtual collaboration platform from the NHS that supports people working in health and social care to make change, improve and transform across organisations, places and professions.

The platform allows members to respond quickly to the changing health and care landscape, most recently supporting its members to collaborate at scale during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of the Long Term Plan.

FutureNHS is safe, easy to use and supports a growing network of people who want to connect with others to accelerate their work. Members of the platform can join or create workspaces and communities to connect with others, learn and share.

Join a platform with thousands of communities across the sector

FutureNHS is made up of hundreds of different communities, using the platform to collaborate through thousands of virtual workspaces.

Workspaces are self-contained areas with their own managed membership which are dedicated to a project, programme or subject area. All workspaces are managed by one or more workspace managers, who look after the workspace content, membership and general administration. 

When you join a workspace, you can view information or get involved in a discussion with other members, and depending on permissions, you can also add and edit further content. 

A workspace can either be open (accessible to all members) or restricted (membership access requests must be approved). 

You can request to be a member of as many different workspaces as you require, to support you in your work.

Who uses FutureNHS

FutureNHS is open to anyone working in or for health and social care. The platform supports commissioners, providers, senior management, front line staff, clinicians, health and social care colleagues, voluntary and community sector organisations, commercial sector and other interested stakeholders.

NHS staff (with an nhs.net or nhs.uk email address) can register for an account immediately. You can also sign in using your NHSmail email address and password.

A workspace can be set up for projects working in or in collaboration with the NHS.

The core functionality that is supporting collaboration at scale

Connect with others

• Forums
• Blogs
• Comment on content
• Join community workpaces

Work with others remotely

• Secure file sharing and collaboration, with version control on documents
• Databases
• Task lists
• Calendars
• Survey tools such as poll and questionnaire
• Email notifications and subscriptions to content that can be tailored by members

Discover new content and communities

• Personalised recommended workspaces based on the interests of members
• Search key words or tags within workspaces or across the platform

Share knowledge and intelligence

• The case study tool enables you to add learning to a designed template and share it with others in a searchable library
• Share videos, podcasts, web links and twitter feeds
• Embed interactive dashboards (e.g. Tableau and PowerBI)

Manage access to content easily

• Workspaces can be set up as open to all platform members or restricted to members you approve
• Manage permissions for content within workspaces to allow all or just some members to access or edit

Gain insights about your community

• The reporting tool helps you understand who your members are, what they access most and report on workspace content

Receive support from the FutureNHS team with getting started or building communities on the platform

• A responsive support desk open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday
• General and bespoke training, support and video guides
• Platform news and updates in the user community
• Account management for large or growing communities

The benefits of joining our nationwide community

Many members of FutureNHS use local collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and FutureNHS to deliver their work. Both platforms enable health and social care colleagues to work effectively and share safely online.

FutureNHS:

• Ongoing collaboration across organisations and geographies – joining up communities of practice and interest no matter their location, job role or organisation.
• The platform supports teams to build learning systems, reduce duplication, and share resources to accelerate innovations and improvements.

Local collaboration tools (e.g. MS Teams)

• Used for online meetings, related chat and live document sharing, primarily within organisations or with a small number of external partners.

For example, someone working in a CCG may be planning budgets and contracts with their colleagues using a MS Teams channel, and then engaging, sharing and discussing more widely with ICS partners such as local authorities and acute trusts using a FutureNHS workspace.  This sharing can then be amplified further to other ICS colleagues on FutureNHS.

Collaborating with confidence – a safe and secure tool for the whole sector

FutureNHS is owned and managed by NHS England and is a safe and secure place for people working in health and social care to save, access and share resources and content. The platform is hosted and supported by the software provider Kahootz.  For more information about the platform’s security please look at the Kahootz policies around security and safety. 

FutureNHS is a transparent, open and accountable platform. Users cannot post content anonymously and workspace managers have access to an audit log to track activity.

Workspaces can be set up to deliver work within or in collaboration with the NHS. Workspace managers can manage the permissions of their workspace and specific content within it to only allow access to specific audiences.

In accordance with NHS information governance rules, we ask all our members to take responsibility for the safe use of data.  Workspace managers and members must not share confidential or commercially sensitive information. For more information, please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

To give you an idea of what is on offer, here are just a handful of the thousands of groups and organisations using the platform to connect and work online securely:

• National NHS England and Improvement teams and programmes such as Safeguarding and Mental Health
• All seven regional NHS teams in England
• Primary care partnerships including Primary Care Networks and Modality Group
• Most Integrated Care Systems
• Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs)
• NHS Kent and Medway CCG
• The NHS and Local Government Better Care Fund partnership
• The Department of Health and Social Care
• Stroke Association UK