DCB0160 — Deployment Safety
Deploy health IT safely, and prove it locally
Local clinical risk management for the organisation rolling out a system — the DCB0160 evidence your governance needs.
What you receive
A deployment safety pack
- Local clinical risk management file
- Deployment safety checklist
- Training & change plan
- DPIA references
- Go-live readiness review
- Post-go-live review
Why it matters
The supplier's safety case is not enough
DCB0160 places the duty on the health organisation that deploys, configures, uses, maintains or decommissions a health IT system — not on the supplier. A clean DCB0129 safety case from the manufacturer is an essential input, but it cannot see your environment. Your local context introduces its own hazards: how the system integrates with the existing record, how it sits inside real clinical workflows, how it is configured, how staff are trained and supported, and the particular patient population it will touch. DCB0160 is how you identify, assess and control those local risks — and, just as importantly, evidence that you did when a regulator, auditor or coroner asks.
How we run a DCB0160 deployment
- Scope and mobilise. Confirm what is being deployed, the clinical pathways affected and the named Clinical Safety Officer, and stand up a Clinical Risk Management Plan proportionate to the risk.
- Hazard identification. Facilitated workshops with clinical, operational and IT staff to surface local hazards across the whole lifecycle — from data migration and go-live to fallback and decommissioning.
- Risk assessment and control. Score each hazard for severity and likelihood, agree mitigations and acceptance, and capture them in a living hazard log with clear owners.
- Safety case and assurance. Produce the Clinical Safety Case Report, a go-live readiness decision and a structured post-go-live review to confirm the controls held in practice.
Who this is for
NHS trusts, integrated care boards, GP federations, community and mental-health providers and any organisation rolling out a clinical system — whether that is an AI documentation tool, a new EPR module, a decision-support feature or a redesigned pathway. It matters most where the system informs clinical decisions, writes to or reads from the patient record, or materially changes how a team works. We tailor the depth of the file to the clinical risk, so low-risk rollouts stay proportionate while higher-risk deployments get the scrutiny they need.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Who needs DCB0160?
The NHS organisation deploying a health IT system. It requires local clinical risk management — assessing the risks introduced by your environment, workflows and patient population — under a named Clinical Safety Officer.
What do you provide?
A local clinical risk management file, a deployment safety checklist, training plan, DPIA references and a post-go-live review, building on the manufacturer's DCB0129 safety case.
Does this cover ambient scribes?
Yes — deployment safety is central to AI documentation rollouts. See Ambient Scribe Evaluation.
We already have the manufacturer's DCB0129 — why do we still need DCB0160?
DCB0129 covers the risks the manufacturer can foresee in the product itself. DCB0160 covers the risks your specific deployment introduces — integration with your records, your workflows, your configuration, your training and your patient population. Regulators and buyers expect both; the supplier's safety case is an input to yours, not a replacement.
Is DCB0160 mandatory?
For NHS organisations in England it is an information standard published under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 — effectively mandatory for deploying and using health IT in clinical care. It requires a clinical risk management system and a suitably qualified, named Clinical Safety Officer.
Can you provide or mentor our Clinical Safety Officer?
We can support and mentor the CSO function and produce every artefact, while the accountable CSO role stays within your organisation. Where you have no CSO in post we can help you stand the function up.
Deploying a clinical system?
We'll help you manage local clinical risk under DCB0160.