technology
First-line workers are absolutely optimised when it comes to
being busy. What was interesting was 80 per cent of the staff say
their biggest challenge right now is understaffing. So, if we can
alleviate some of that pain by taking away the administration hassle,
streamlining those processes, etc, so that understaffing can be less
of a problem as a result of optimising technology, then that’s a huge
step forward for the healthcare industry and first-line workers.
Almost nine in 10 health sector managers said one of the
challenges of digital transformation was getting departments
to overcome the fear of massive change, but as you mentioned
earlier, the study showed that first-line health workers believe
digital technology has an important role to play in improving
processes. What might be the cause of that mismatch?
There’s always been this assumption that first-line workers are
petrified of this new technology revolution. But as we said, first-
line workers feel understaffing’s a massive issue. It’s just been a
case of job cutting, of all things. This is all about elevating the
careers and the capability and enabling the first-line workers to be
more relevant and less focused on antiquated processes.
What else needs to be done to ensure technology in the health
sector meets its purpose and that staff get the most out of it?
There are a number of key pillars. The first is driving at that digital
or connected culture. It’s about delivering the growth mind-set,
where regardless of your position in the organisation, you’re
encouraged to give feedback and receive feedback constructively.
Technology can provide that real-time feedback and insight.
But then there’s the flip-side: the need to provide the first line
with the latest insights. This is a rapidly changing marketplace,
with new drugs, new innovations, new ways of delivering care.
And providing that growth mind-set culture would mean that
these staff receive the latest feedback about what’s going on in
the marketplace.
The second part of that then is also to be able to provide the
right applications. So, again, replacing the cork noticeboard
with modern digital applications where they can receive real-
time feedback, and linking that together with a data platform
then enables them to communicate effectively and offers them
proactive suggestions and insight as to how they can be more
effective, or some of the learnings out there in the marketplace, or
maybe other colleagues who are doing similar things that they can
share experiences with.
And this must all be aligned to the work and processes that are
happening in hospitals, care homes and so on. It’s essential that all
these fantastic tools and technologies are focused and integrated
into the business process that currently exists, not that you rip
up everything that’s done today just because you’ve brought
technology in. Technology should fit around your business, not
the other way around. ■
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