Government announces plan to improve NHS tech abilities

Matt Hancock, health and social care secretary has announced the government’s plan to make NHS health systems better with new technology and artificial intelligence. £200 million will be injected into creating a group of NHS trusts which will be internationally recognised for their technological and digital innovation, and funding “new Global Digital Exemplars in acute, mental health, community and ambulance trusts in England to set a gold standard of innovation for other services to follow.” He also announced the advent of a HealthTech Advisory Board which will look for areas that do not follow best practice and require change, and find ways to improve patient experience and outcomes. There is also a pilot scheme around the country that allows patients to test a new NHS app that offers a GP booking system and access to their own medical records. It also enables NHS 111 to order repeat prescriptions and record organ donation preferences.
Mr Hancock said: “Our hospitals operate dozens of systems each, that don’t talk to each other. The social care system is not at all integrated, when its integration is vital. The NHS infrastructure is stronger and moving in the right direction. Local pockets of brilliance shine out. The generic technology available outside the NHS is a million times better. And we have learned a huge amount about how to deliver cutting-edge tech in very complicated settings with big legacy systems. Now is the moment to put the failures of the past behind us, and set our sights on the NHS being the most cutting-edge system in the world for the use of technology to improve our health, make our lives easier, and make money go further, harnessing the amazing explosion of innovation that the connection of billions of minds through digital technology has brought to this world.”
CEO of the NHS Confederations, Nial Dickson, said the NHS “has to change, and we all have to accept that it will challenge working practices and those who constantly find reasons why we should not adopt new ways of delivering care. We can create a service that is more responsive and adaptable, that will be more efficient and reach more people. As patients, data is our friend not our enemy helping the health service devise better more targeted services. If we have secure systems that talk to each other we can achieve so much more. Genomics and AI will also transform what we do and how we do it. Part of this will depend on investment but it will also depend on NHS leaders, managers and clinicians, as well as everyone delivering care to champion this new world.”