The first #physiotalk in our series of two in a row because of bank holiday clashes is on digitisation of the NHS. It will be at 8pm BST on Monday 17th April
Digitisation – whether you love it or loathe it – it is here to stay!
But often the NHS is poor at making technology work for them – commercial firms can seemingly track our every move, alert us when things need done and make ordering smooth in one click shopping. But anecdotally the NHS systems often seem slow, clunky and slow up clinical work rather than making it easier.
A recent Government expert panel reported that
The Government is making inadequate progress on vital commitments to digitise the NHS, an independent panel of experts has found. The digitisation of health and social care is essential to deliver the promise of improved and better integrated health and social care services, said the Government in a policy paper published in 2022. Commitments evaluated by the Panel include the delivery of integrated health and care records, the roll-out of the NHS app and ensuring a workforce had the necessary digital skills. Despite some encouraging progress, the Expert Panel found that key Government commitments on workforce and the use of patient information were either not met or were not on track to be met. The Panel found that overall progress towards improving the digital capabilities of the NHS was too slow, and often lacked support and funding. The experts concluded that social care was often missed out in commitments, stifling progress across the health and care system.
So what is happening in the NHS?
NHS England have set the ambition for the majority of health and social care services to have digital foundations in place, including electronic records, by March 2025 – so less than two years time. At present only 20% of NHS organisations are digitally mature, although 86% have a form of electronic patient record in place. Only 45% of social care providers have any form of digital care records.
The NHS in Scotland has a digital health and care strategy, refreshed in 2021 that aims to ensure digital technology is an essential component of fit for purpose health and care services in a modern, dynamic Scotland.
There is a Digital Services for Patients and the Public (DSPP) programme in Wales which aims to allow patients to
- personalise their health journey
- monitor health conditions more easily
- share and receive important health information
- take an active part in their own health and wellbeing
- plan for and take control of their health and care journey
- stay healthy for longer.
And in Northern Ireland the encompass Programme will introduce a digital, integrated health and care record. It will mean a patients’ health and care information will be available to those who need it in one digital record, and as individuals we will be able to securely access our information and interact with the system
Chat questions
- How digitised is your workplace?
- What systems do you use already?
- How user friendly are they?
- Do then integrate with each other?
- What examples do you have of digitisation improving the workplace?
- Do you have any examples of digitisation making your working day less productive?
Resources
Digitisation Expert Panel findings:
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