- Investment for the NHS frontline to fix historic IT problems and ensure every part of the NHS is ready to benefit from digital transformation
- NHS technology already transforming care for thousands of people with COVID-19 while enabling them to stay in their own homes
- Technology is reducing waiting times, speeding up diagnosis and offering faster paths to treatment
In his first major digital transformation speech since the pandemic began, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock has spoken about how technology has made a greater impact on the ability of health and care providers to respond to COVID-19 than any other sector, and the vital role it will play in the future of healthcare as the government focus shifts to build back better.
In his speech at Digital Health Rewired, the Health Secretary outlined the scale of the progress that has been made in health and care adopting technology during the pandemic.
At the event, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock, said:
This has been a difficult time for us all, but what we have found though is that the power of using the best available technology and developing new technology quickly has proved its worth - saving lives and keeping our health and care service standing at a time when it was under unbelievable strain like never before.
Let's think of some examples. Perhaps the one that touches the public most of all is that GP surgeries could keep operating remotely, because of the huge strides that have been made in telemedicine and then were made in the pandemic.
Getting iPads into care homes to make sure people could stay in contact with their loved ones, and we built on that digital infrastructure to make sure the testing and then vaccination programmes have been able to operate in a seamless way. And ultimately the data is at the heart of both of those programmes. Testing is merely the discovery of new data.
The Health Secretary also announced further investment in the NHS frontline to fix historic IT problems and level up the field to ensure that every part of the NHS is ready to benefit from the remarkable digital transformation seen during the pandemic.
The second wave of NHSX's Digital Aspirant programme will build on current successes to help digitise hospitals needing additional support. Seven trusts including East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will receive up to £6 million each over the next 3 years to help deliver their digital ambitions - while a further 25 trusts will receive seed funding of £250,000 to develop their digital strategy and business cases.
The Health Secretary also said:
First, we need to digitise more of the NHS that is not yet digitised. The starring role that healthtech has played in our response was no accident. It comes off the back of the relentless investment in the fundamentals.
Last year NHSX launched the Digital Aspirant programme, tasked with boosting the procurement, deployment and uptake of technologies.
The first wave of the programme helped 27 trusts to boost their digital infrastructure and today I'm delighted to announce that we're launching our next wave. Thirty more trusts will be starting their journey and becoming a Digital Aspirant. Seven trusts will get up to £6 million pounds over the next 3 years, and the rest will get seed funding to start creating their plans.
And of course we'll be offering further waves of funding in the years ahead. To do this, we'll focus on all parts of the NHS.
He gave examples of how technology has been essential in supporting the NHS to deliver care during the pandemic. This includes the roll-out of 300,000 pulse oximeters to local health teams, enabling the NHS to set up virtual wards to care for thousands of people with covid while enabling them to stay in their own homes.
NHSX worked with local clinicians to combine digital tools with pulse oximeters, a gadget that clips onto the finger and can identify 'silent hypoxia', where oxygen levels are dangerously low but people have no symptoms. Patients can update their data which is automatically sent directly to their clinical teams and reduces the need for daily check-in phone calls.
When clinicians in hospital or in the community spot a drop in their patient's oxygen levels they can quickly bring them in to be checked over. Evidence from patients and clinicians has so far shown improvements to patient care and faster intervention as a result of remote monitoring.
He went on to speak about how technology can improve patient experience and outcomes, by reducing waiting times, speeding up diagnosis and offering faster paths to treatment, citing the example of teledermatology.
He also outlined the new investment in image sharing technology that will connect GPs with specialist hospital-based dermatologists in efforts to reduce waiting times and speed up the diagnosis of some skin conditions and potential cancers.
He said:
I want us to be radical about reimagining how care is given, taking on what we've learnt.
NHSX has published a procurement tool to allow images to flow from high-street opticians to ophthalmology clinics and we're working to help primary care clinicians safely share images with specialist dermatologists in secondary care.
Both of these projects have a broader meaning: they mean quicker and more accurate advice for patients, and they will reduce unnecessary trips to hospital.
I want to see much more of this big thinking about how we can use technology to fundamentally transform care.
Every year around 900,000 people see their GPs for skin concerns or disease, resulting in around 3 million hospital outpatient consultations.
With an additional £5 million in investment, many GPs will be able to take images of skin conditions using equipment that attaches to a smartphone or tablet which can be shared with specialist dermatologists to review, offer advice and a diagnosis and recommend a treatment plan.
By sharing images this way, the NHS could reduce unnecessary hospital appointments and speed up access to diagnosis and treatments, including 2-week-wait skin cancer referrals.
The Health Secretary closed by highlightingn that technology and ingenuity has helped us through the pandemic and we must continue to use it as we face future challenges.
He said:
This pandemic was the time when healthtech really came of age. Thanks to the hard work of so many people, including so many of you, it helped us through this crisis protecting our most vulnerable and bolstering our NHS.
Now is the time to bottle the spirit we've seen - the ingenuity, the creativity and the adaptability - and put it in service of those solving the new challenges ahead.
Background information
Read the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care's speech in full
Digital Aspirants
Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX, said:
We want to see all parts of the NHS join the digital transformation journey, and this programme is key to supporting those organisations that need a bit more assistance.
Digitising frontline services is at the heart of NHSX and it is the bedrock upon which we are continuing to build the capability to deliver healthcare that is safe, efficient and fit for 21st century needs.
Case studies from the first wave of Digital Aspirants
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St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals has completed its roll-out of telehealth across almost 50 specialities, and introduced technology to digitise the handover of referrals between and within specialist teams - with some wards reporting it saves them around 15 minutes on ward handovers
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South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has fixed a number of historical issues with its IT infrastructure - including upgrading its wireless network, clinical servers and software upgrades, as well as installing 500 additional wireless access points
NHS trusts that will receive up to £6 million to help deliver their digital ambitions
- University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
- Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
- East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
- West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust
NHS trusts that NHSX is helping to develop their digital strategy and business cases
- Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
- Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
- South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
- George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
- Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
- Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
- The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
- East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
- North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
- Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
- York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
- Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
- North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
- Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (working in collaboration with Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)
- University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
- Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- East Cheshire NHS Trust
- University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
Teledermatology
Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX, said:
Teledermatology provides a revolutionary opportunity to improve dermatology services so that patients are managed by the right person in the right place at the right time.
This investment by NHSX will not only support secure image sharing and associated technology in dermatology, but will also open up opportunities for the wider use of image sharing to improve patient care across a range of other specialties.
Dr Tanya Bleiker, President of the British Association of Dermatologists, said:
The British Association of Dermatologists support efforts to make dermatology services more accessible and to use digital technology to support holistic care, focusing on the needs of patients. To make this work properly, funding for teledermatology equipment and systems is vital, which is why this investment from NHSX is so welcome.
