NHS DSP service
Developed by NHS England and run by NHS trusts, the NHS Digital Staff Passport (NHS DSP) service enables NHS employees to use their smart phone to share employment, education and training, and occupational health details with NHS trusts 24/7, to support moves between those trusts.
Read more about the overall NHS DSP project and future plans.
Or read on for more details about the NHS DSP service.
On this page:
- What does the service do?
- What does the service not do?
- Which NHS employees can use the service?
- How does it work?
- What type of information can be shared?
- Why should an NHS trust or NHS employee use the service?
- How do NHS trusts register with the service?
- How do NHS employees register with the service?
- What happens when an NHS employee needs to update their credentials?
- NHS employee is ready to move to another NHS trust
What does the service do?
The service supports NHS employees to securely share essential employment information, including employment checks, core skills and occupational health.
When NHS employees move between NHS trusts, they can quickly and securely transfer required information, without duplicate form filling, employment checks and repeated training.
The service improves the onboarding experience for NHS employees, by enabling onboarding to be easier, faster and less repetitive.
What does the service not do?
The service does not include movement of NHS employees to organisations outside the NHS.
For example, primary care, social care or private healthcare providers are not currently within scope of the project.
It is the ambition of the NHSE Enabling Staff Movement team, to expand the scope of the service in the future, to include movement of NHS employees across wider health and social care sectors.
The service does not currently include the sharing of payroll information.
The service can be used for new Postgraduate Doctors in Training joining the NHS, but other staff groups cannot be onboarded using the NHS DSP at this time.
Which NHS employees can use the service?
The long-term plan is for all NHS staff groups to have the option to use the NHS Digital Staff Passport.
For now, two NHS staff groups are invited to register.
- Temporary Movers
- Who remain employed by their current NHS employer and will work at another NHS trust for an agreed period
- Postgraduate Doctors in Training
- Who rotate between trusts as part of their training programme
How does it work?
NHS employees will register with the service via a web-based portal, which connects to their Employer’s portal via a digital passport app on their smart phone, allowing information to be shared securely.
When NHS employees want to move between NHS trusts, they can securely share information from their digital passport with any NHS trust registered with the service.
Read more about digital passports.
Tip: Postgraduate Doctors in Training can read more about Lead Employers and how the NHS DSP supports their training programme.
What type of information can be shared?
The following credentials are available on the NHS Digital Staff Passport.
- Pre-employment checks
- Identity
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- Occupational Health clearance
- Professional registration
- Core Skills
- Equality, Diversity and Human Rights
- Fire Safety
- Health, Safety and Welfare
- Infection prevention and Control
- Information Governance and Data Security
- Moving and Handling
- Preventing Radicalisation
- Resuscitation
- Safeguarding Adults
- Conflict Resolution
- Safeguarding Children
- Immunisations, Vaccinations and Testing
- Tuberculosis
- Varicella
- Other
- Primary Employment Assignment
- Temporary Assignment
- New Starter information
Why should an NHS trust or NHS employee use the service?
- Streamline onboarding process
- Reduce paperwork
- Reduce duplication of checks and training
- Save verification time
- Secure digital service
- Enhanced data quality
- Transparency of data held about NHS employees
- NHS employee in control of data sharing
- NHS employee contributes to data updating
- Support patient care
- Frees up time to focus on key workstreams
How do NHS trusts register with the service?
Implementation of the NHS DSP is encouraged in a system approach, to add greater value for NHS employees, NHS trusts and the patients they care for.
A system approach may be defined as:
- Full ICS, with all NHS trusts evidencing demand and planning to use the NHS DSP as business as usual
OR
-
Part ICS, with several NHS trusts implementing initially, followed by other NHS trusts as demand is evidenced
OR
-
Network based, with implementation crossing ICS boundaries to meet the demand of a local or regional network, i.e., clinical or operational
Watch the 4 minute animated overview of the system approach.
ICB Workforce Leads are co-ordinating implementation by NHS trusts within ICSs.
The NHS trust’s Human Resource Director or Chief People Officer will know who their ICB Workforce Lead is, so can make direct contact with them.
The ICB Workforce Lead will support discussions between the HRDs and/or CPOs of the NHS trusts in the ICS to agree an implementation approach for the NHS DSP.
If your NHS trust or ICB Workforce Lead have queries about implementation, please email england.digitalstaffpassport@nhs.net.
How do NHS employees register with the service?
NHS employees can apply for a digital staff passport and move between NHS trusts quickly and easily.
- Trust registered?
- NHS employee to check the current and next/new NHS trust is registered with the service
- Request access
- NHS employee to choose the NHS trust from the list of registered trusts to request access
- Verify identity
- NHS employee can use Yoti or EasyID (Post Office) to set up a digital identity* – both are government certified digital identity service providers, approved for use with the NHS DSP
- Read more about digital identity service providers
- NHS employee can share the digital identity with the Recruitment team via the NHS DSP
- Once verified, the Recruitment team will issue the NHS employee with a digital access key to log in to the NHS DSP and an NHS digital identity credential
- Credentials
- NHS employee can request and receive credentials from the current Recruitment team via the NHS DSP
- Induction
- Using the NHS Digital Staff Passport to share credentials, the new NHS employer or host NHS trust can onboard the NHS employee without the need to request repeated checks and training
- NHS employee can complete the local induction and start work
*The current face to face identity check method remains an option
For a visual overview of these steps:
- Read the two page NHS DSP flyer
- Watch the NHS Digital Staff Passport animation
Need support registering? Visit the Support page.
What happens when the NHS employee needs to update their credentials?
During employment, the personal and/or employment information of an NHS employee may change.
For personal information, such as a change of address or an updated surname after marriage, the NHS employee should inform their Recruitment team directly or via ESR self-service. An updated identity credential can then be requested/provided. An additional identity check meeting is not required, as the initial check remains valid.
For employment information, such as the completion of additional training or registration with a professional body, the NHS employee can request an update. Using their NHS Digital Staff Passport portal, an NHS employee can request updated credentials from their NHS trust and collect new credentials too, ensuring their NHS Digital Staff Passport is up to date and ready for their next move between NHS trusts.
Need support updating credentials? Visit the Support page.
NHS employee is ready to move to another NHS trust – what next?
Repeat the registration steps with the next NHS trust and share credentials.
Check which NHS trusts are registered with the NHS DSP.
Need support registering? Visit the Support page.