How can the NHS take full advantage of the digital age?
The NHS should shed paper, pagers and faxes, says a report.
Tory MP Alan Mak’s report, Powerful patients and paperless systems, published by the right-wing think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, offers 10 recommendations to be achieved by 2028. The report says these will allow the NHS to take advantage of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ and save money that can be reinvested in frontline services.
The recommendations are:
- NHS patient records should be digitised
- provide healthcare workers with a digital messaging system
- develop an NHS app to give patients access to medical data and services
- create an NHS kitemark for approved apps
- set up regional data innovation hubs for England
- technologies should be made available through a digital hub and spoke model
- introduce a technology retraining scheme for doctors and nurses
- guarantee that all money saved in back office automation is reinvested in frontline services
- increase investment in R&D and training so that new technologies can be taken up faster
- relaunch NHS commercial arm, Healthcare UK, as NHS Worldwide
The report also promotes the idea of patient control and recommends achieving this with ‘a flourishing ecosystem of apps and innovation within and around the NHS’.
Further information
Centre for Policy Studies: powerful patients and paperless systems
Centre for Policy Studies: Powerful patients and paperless systems — Jeremy Hunt welcomes report