Digital clinical safety (DCS)
Published on: 2nd October 2025 | Updated on: 17th November 2025
Digital clinical safety (DCS) is about making sure the digital systems used in pharmacy are safe for patients and staff. This includes how systems are designed, tested, and used in practice.
Pharmacy teams rely on IT systems every day—for NHS service provision, dispensing, managing prescriptions, and supporting patient care. Ensuring these systems meet safety standards helps reduce risks and improve outcomes.
Digital clinical safety refers to how health IT systems are assessed and managed to avoid harm. It includes:
- Identifying risks in digital systems
- Using national safety standards
- Ensuring systems are tested and supported
- Keeping records of safety checks and updates
NHS England has published a national strategy for digital clinical safety, which sets out how health and care organisations—including pharmacies—can improve safety through better use of technology.
Pharmacy IT suppliers are expected to follow NHS safety standards and provide evidence of this. This includes:
- Aligning with the NHS Clinical Risk Management frameworks:
- DCB0160: Clinical Risk Management (deployment safety)
- DCB0129: Clinical Risk Management (supplier safety) is
- Providing hazard logs and safety cases/documents with pharmacy teams (Suppliers can use NHS safety and safety use case templates).
- Completing or considering recommended NHS data security frameworks for IT suppliers (the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit, ISO270001 and Digital technology assessment criteria (DTAC))
Suppliers or NHS England (or both working jointly) may maintain and/or provide template risk management documents about NHS England’s Guidance to maintain clinical risk management standards
Pharmacy teams can:
- Use Community Pharmacy England’s Assessing pharmacy IT solutions: guide and checklist. This includes a section on DCS as well as sections on data security, usability, features etc.
- Ask IT suppliers for copies of their safety documentation
- Review NHS safety templates and hazard logs
- Ensure staff are aware of how to report digital safety issues and patient safety incidents and near misses
- Consider training options to build confidence in digital safety
NHS England offers training on digital clinical safety, including e-learning modules. These are suitable for pharmacy teams, IT leads, and suppliers.
Explore NHS digital clinical safety training
Community Pharmacy England also provides templates and guidance to help pharmacies assess their systems, IT, data and manage risks.
Digital clinical safety is essential for safe, effective pharmacy practice. By working with IT suppliers and using national guidance, pharmacy teams and IT suppliers can ensure their systems support patient care safely.
For more information on this topic please email it@cpe.org.uk
