{"id":4683,"date":"2023-08-03T12:08:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T12:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/?p=4683"},"modified":"2023-08-31T10:29:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T10:29:21","slug":"digital-first-digital-eats-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/digital-first-digital-eats-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital first – but digital eats last"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHS has just turned 75, and across the country, parkruns<\/a>, bake-offs<\/a> and blue light-ups on buildings have taken place to celebrate this anniversary. The government celebrated the NHS\u2019s 75th birthday with a present of its own: the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, aimed at ensuring \u201can ambitious, sustainable and resilient NHS, there for patients now and for future generations\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The NHS has felt more turbulence and change in the past five-to-10 years than at any point in the preceding 70. The Covid pandemic\u2019s impact on the NHS has been severe, and the health service will suffer with the effects of long-Covid like many patients across the country. Its impact is still being felt by patients and services in every part of the UK. But as well as the negative impacts, Covid was also a catalysing event for the NHS in its use of data and digital technologies.<\/p>\n

Prior to Covid, the NHS App had around 500,000 users. It now has over 30 million users, and is a key foundation of the government\u2019s plan to digitise the NHS and make it more fit for the future. Could this have been the case prior to the pandemic and the mandated use of Covid passes? That\u2019s up for debate; but the public health emergency provided the opportunity to seek solutions in innovation.<\/p>\n

The Workforce Plan is not so much a big bang event; but it could have a significant impact on health and care policy over the next 10-15 years. The challenge is ensuring that it meets the data and digital needs of the NHS, and delivers the ambitions of a digital-first health service.<\/p>\n

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The challenge<\/h3>\n

Despite this digital-first ambition, it is digital and data strategies that are often last to the funding table. As soon as there are frontline challenges, NHS England\u2019s budget for data and digital is the first to be cut. This means that the advancements in key digital and data infrastructure, digital skills and implementing innovation fall even further behind where they should be.<\/p>\n

That is not to say the NHS has not thought significantly about data and digital \u2013 there have been 21 documents that touch on data policy released by the government in the past 18 months (HT to Jess Morley for collating<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Priority 3 in the NHS’s 2023 mandate is: “Deliver recovery through the use of data and technology\u201d. The Health and Social Care Committee\u2019s report on digitisation of the NHS touched on the need to ensure a digitally-literate workforce. The Workforce Plan also has explicit aims around training in data and digital.<\/p>\n

So, what does the Workforce Plan say about the future of digital and data skills in the NHS?<\/p>\n