Industry News

A number of recommendations have been identified in an advisory paper suggesting how the NHS could be paper free by 2020 . The paper outlines the results of discussions from the Health Insights series of regional workshops and conferences held in Autumn 2015 . The events , which were run in partnership with NHS England , provided a platform for more than 500 health and care professionals to address fundamental questions about managing information through technology .

The main topics highlighted in the paper reflect what health and care professionals feel the NHS Technology agenda should focus on this year with ubiquitous Wi-Fi , information governance and patient access to data being the focal points .

The consensus felt that Wi-Fi was a basic innovation that should be in place and since last autumn the Department of Health has announced that free Wi-Fi will be provided in all NHS buildings , with a number of trusts having already made progress with estate-wide Wi-Fi .

Health and care professionals also deemed that information governance was a real obstacle on the road to interoperability and integrated working . Currently trusts have their own way of interpreting information governance and calls have been made for a single sharing information agreement .

Discussions around patient access to data was said to have the potential to empower patients and allow them to take ownership of their care . Implementing this would reduce cost and improve patient experience .

Other suggestions included :

Delegates at the events were asked to put themselves in the role of patients and consider the impact the management of information and accessibility has in their everyday lives . They identified the following issues :

Unclear patient expectations Health professionals felt it was unclear what patients wanted and called for more engagement with patient groups to ascertain their expectations . Although younger patients may have higher expectations of technology , the older generation may want to simply see a doctor .

June / July 2016

Outdated technology The general consensus was that patients would expect the NHS to be able to meet the IT standards citizens were used to in their own workplaces . Delegates said patients were surprised that the NHS had not moved with advances in technology and still used methods such as paper records , faxing and handwritten notes . It was suggested that ‘ patient power ’ could force the NHS to move with the times .

Lack of leadership The strongest theme that emerged from the events was a plea for greater central direction . Many health professionals felt that local autonomy prevented the NHS making progress on a national level . There were calls for agreed leadership structures in localities . Delegates felt that leaders needed to define the key priorities , allowing providers of health informatics to work together with clear objectives and purpose .

Lack of integrated care Delegates said that legacy systems made it difficult to share information . The inability of one part of the NHS to talk to another , let alone colleagues in social care came as a shock to patients . This is exacerbated by social services operating separately from CCGs ( Clinical Commissioning Groups ). As information does not follow patients , they may have to repeat their story several times leading to a poor patient experience .

Clinical reluctance The medical profession can be reluctant to embrace change , often for good reasons such as need for training , lack of familiarity and concerns about safe practice . There was a perceived need to change the clinical mind-set around citizen access to information , which was seen as low priority in current care models .

Funding Heath professions argued that IT solutions were useless if there is no budget for them . It was unclear where the budget would come from in terms of spending e . g . acute care , CCGs , ambulance , councils . Funding bids currently have to be trust-led as CCGs have looked at the systems available but cannot submit bids . It was suggested that incentives were put in commissioning targets for CCGs and clinicians .

Lack of trust Patients are not convinced their data is secure and have lower expectations of data security than they do for other sectors such as banking . This is partly due to a lack of credibility . Delegates felt that a customer service ethic was missing and the NHS needed to learn from the world of business to become more customer centric . This should include more transparency about the use of data and assurance in the security of sensitive data .

Since Autumn 2015 when these events took place , NHS England has put a number of measures in place towards the aim of having a paperless NHS by 2020 . Health and care systems