What the UK Can Learn from Dubai's NABIDH: A Blueprint for National Healthcare Interoperability

In the ongoing quest for a more integrated and efficient healthcare system, the UK's NHS faces persistent challenges with interoperability, siloed data systems, and fragmented patient records. While various initiatives like the NHS App and the Summary Care Record (SCR) have aimed to address these issues, progress has been piecemeal. Meanwhile, Dubai has quietly achieved a major milestone: NABIDH, its citywide health information exchange (HIE), now connects 100% of its hospitals and is rapidly onboarding clinics, enabling real-time, unified access to electronic medical records (EMRs) across the public and private sectors. This article explores what the UK healthcare system can learn from NABIDH's implementation and how similar principles could accelerate digital transformation across the NHS.

What is NABIDH?

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NABIDH (Network & Analysis Backbone for Integrated Dubai Health) is Dubai's health information exchange platform developed by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Its core function is to integrate health data from all public and private healthcare providers into a single, unified patient record accessible to authorised clinicians across the city. As of 2024, NABIDH has:

• Integrated all 52 hospitals in Dubai

• Registered over 7.8 million unified medical records

• Connected hundreds of clinics, laboratories, and pharmacies

• Ensured real-time data sharing across all facilities, improving care coordination

  
  

The system also feeds into the UAE-wide "Riayati" platform managed by MOHAP (Ministry of Health and Prevention), creating a unified national health record for each resident.

Key Features of NABIDH

1. Interoperability by Design: NABIDH uses global standards like HL7 and FHIR to ensure that disparate EMRs, lab systems, and pharmacy systems can communicate seamlessly.

2. Patient-Centric Record: Every resident has a unique medical record number, consolidating their health history from multiple providers into a longitudinal patient record.

3. Data Governance and Security: Strong policies regulate who can access what data, backed by audit trails and role-based permissions.

4. Analytics and Insights: NABIDH supports public health surveillance, epidemiology, and policy planning by aggregating anonymised population-level data.

5. Private Sector Inclusion: Unlike many Western models, NABIDH mandates participation from private hospitals and clinics, ensuring full-market interoperability.

   
   

Why NABIDH is working: Strategic Factors

• Top-Down Governance: The Dubai Health Authority provided clear mandates, deadlines, and enforcement mechanisms to drive provider adoption.

• Unified Vision and Policy Alignment: NABIDH aligns with national strategies such as the UAE Vision 2031 and Dubai's Smart City agenda, securing high-level buy-in.

• Incentives and Compliance: Facilities not connecting to NABIDH could face licensing issues or reduced referrals. Participation was tied to operational and financial consequences.

• Streamlined Tech Stack: Rather than allowing every hospital to build their own system, NABIDH created centralised infrastructure, APIs, and documentation to guide integration.

  
  

Lessons for the UK Healthcare System

1. Mandate Participation for All Providers The UK still struggles with fragmented data between NHS Trusts, GP practices, and private providers. NABIDH shows that mandating universal participation, including from the private sector, is possible when tied to regulatory incentives. The UK should explore making data interoperability a condition of CQC ratings, contract awards, or continued registration.

2. Centralise the HIE Infrastructure Rather than building regional HIEs with variable standards (as seen with Shared Care Records in England), the NHS could benefit from a more unified national infrastructure based on global standards like FHIR. NABIDH’s centralised platform offers a blueprint for scalability and consistency.

3. Empower Patients Through Unified Records With NABIDH, patients are increasingly able to access their own longitudinal health records, improving engagement and continuity. The NHS App could evolve into a richer platform that consolidates all encounters; GP, hospital, community, private therapy and pharmacy, into one coherent timeline.

4. Invest in Robust Governance and Security Concerns about data privacy and access are valid. NABIDH mitigates these through robust access controls, logging, and auditability. The UK could adopt similar governance frameworks with clear accountability and real-time monitoring of access patterns.

5. Leverage Data for Public Health and Research NABIDH enables anonymised data analysis for epidemiology and service planning. The NHS already has significant data assets, but these are under-leveraged due to access restrictions and data silos. A better-integrated system could unlock insights for local and national decision-making.

6. Promote Clinical Buy-In Through Workflow Integration Rather than asking clinicians to use an external portal, NABIDH data is increasingly integrated directly into existing EMR workflows. The UK should prioritise embedded interoperability, making information appear at the point of care, in the systems clinicians already use.

   
   

Dubai’s NABIDH is not perfect, but it offers a powerful example of what’s possible with clear policy, centralised infrastructure, and strategic enforcement. The UK should not attempt to copy it wholesale, the UK healthcare system is larger and structurally different, but we can adapt its principles. Mandating interoperability, aligning incentives, and investing in a unified health data backbone could radically transform care delivery and efficiency in the NHS. As we look toward the future of integrated, digital-enabled care, NABIDH is a bridge worth studying and perhaps, worth building in our own way.