Recommendations & Conclusions
15 items
1
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted
Successive Governments have attempted digital transformation of the NHS. Progress has been slow and uneven, and there is now substantial variation between organisations. This attempt has the potential to be different, with clear intentions and funding to address factors that have frustrated progress in the past. These include the preponderance …
Government response. The government asserts it has a coherent policy and a suite of planned NHS App features that will be refined based on user research and usage data. It highlights ongoing user engagement via a 40,000-member panel and various promotional activities …
Department of Health and Social Care
2
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Deferred
The pandemic provided a unique incentive to download the NHS App, because it hosted the Covid-19 pass. The new version of the App should bring benefits in terms of functionality, integration and personalisation, but it will require people to download it anew. The Department and NHS England announced improvements to …
Government response. The government's response focuses on interoperability across local systems and institutions, the publication of a draft strategy, and the availability of shared care records, rather than addressing how it will demonstrate the continued value of the NHS App to its …
Department of Health and Social Care
3
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Deferred
We recommend that the Department and NHS England set out in response to this report: (a) A timetable for introducing the new, “native” NHS App, and (b) Their plan for communicating the benefits and features offered by the new App to users of the current “portal” version. (c) Further detail …
Government response. The government's response addresses initiatives to recruit and professionalise the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) workforce through graduate schemes, apprenticeships, and defining job roles, but does not provide the requested timetable or communication plans for the NHS App.
Department of Health and Social Care
4
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted
We support the Hewitt review’s recommendation that the Department, NHS England and ICSs should work together to develop a standards framework to be adopted by all ICSs. This should improve interoperability and data sharing within and between systems. This should include working closely with sectors that could feed into shared …
Government response. The government has published a draft strategy for information sharing standards and interoperability, with final publication expected in Winter 2023. It also commits to providing targeted funding and support, including a further £100 million over the next two years, to …
Department of Health and Social Care
5
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Acknowledged
A shortage of skilled digital professionals working in the NHS has been a barrier to digital transformation to date. Digital specialists can often command higher wages or better conditions in the private sector. This makes recruitment and retention to the NHS challenging, and leaves the health service reliant on third-party …
Government response. The government acknowledges the broad challenges in attracting and retaining DDaT specialists due to pay, career progression, and professional structure. It states it is working to improve recruitment and retention, including reviewing pay measures, and directs the Committee to the …
Department of Health and Social Care
6
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Deferred
To ensure that the NHS is able to recruit the best candidates and sustainably meet demand for DDaT specialists, now and in the future, we recommend that the Department apply to implement the DDaT Pay Framework for NHS England DDaT specialists, which would allow additional pay measures including bonuses/”capability based …
Government response. The government's response details various past and ongoing programs aimed at supporting patients, carers, and health service staff with digital skills and promoting NHS App awareness, rather than addressing the recommendation to implement a DDaT Pay Framework for specialists to …
Department of Health and Social Care
7
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Deferred
Investment in the NHS’s specialist digital workforce needs to be matched by investment in the wider workforce’s forces digital skills. It is important that digital is understood as a thread that runs throughout healthcare, not as a specialist skill set that is only relevant to some staff and occupations. We …
Government response. The government discusses general digital exclusion and past initiatives like the Widening Digital Participation programme. It states it will continue to investigate and learn from existing models without committing to integrating digital training into NHS professional training programmes for the …
Department of Health and Social Care
8
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Deferred
Without staff engagement in the entire process of introducing digital initiatives, digital transformation risks being perceived as an unwelcome, time-consuming imposition on an already over-stretched workforce. Co-designing digital initiatives with staff—including, but not limited to clinicians—is essential to ensure that these offer workable improvements to existing practices. The Department and …
Government response. The government's response focuses on surfacing digital therapeutics via the NHS App and public messaging to encourage their use, completely failing to address the recommendation regarding ensuring staff have time and headspace for co-designing digital initiatives.
Department of Health and Social Care
9
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted
There is a digital skills gap in social care that, if unaddressed, will hinder the digital transformation of the health and social care sectors. As with training for staff in the health service, it is vital that digital skills are integrated throughout learning and development for social care staff, rather …
Government response. The government outlines a comprehensive vision to uplift digital skills across the multi-disciplinary health and care workforce through existing programmes like The Digital Academy, Digital Health Leadership Programme, Topol Digital Fellowship, and specific free training programmes for social care professionals.
Department of Health and Social Care
10
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted in Part
Responsibility for promoting digital inclusion does not rest solely, or even primarily, with the health service, and we are encouraged that the Department recognises the importance of cross-departmental working to address digital exclusion from its services. We recommend that it sets out its approach to cross-departmental working in response to …
Government response. The government describes ongoing cross-departmental work and states that NHS England will publish a digital inclusion framework this summer, along with co-developing further resources, partially addressing the request to set out its approach.
Department of Health and Social Care
11
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted
Many patients could benefit from encouragement and support to use digital services that might not initially be their first choice, but there will be some patients who continue to prefer physical channels. The Department and NHS England must ensure that non-digital channels remain available, especially as it develops and implements …
Government response. The government states that patients unable to use digital channels can already continue to access services via telephone and traditional face-to-face services, and describes past and ongoing programmes to support digital skills.
Department of Health and Social Care
12
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Acknowledged
The NHS is a universal service, and people should not be unable to access it because of wider challenges around access to technology, connectivity and digital skills. The Department should work with NHS England and other Departments to understand what models would work best for supporting patients to use and …
Government response. The government expresses its commitment to accessible healthcare and notes existing multiagency partnerships and past initiatives like the Widening Digital Participation programme. It commits to continuing to investigate and learn from current models to support patients in accessing technology.
Department of Health and Social Care
13
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Acknowledged
We are encouraged by the Department’s recognition that it needs to do better in both reassuring people about the security of data gathered by the health service, and communicating the benefits of digital healthcare. We need to see this matched with action that demonstrates progress. Specific communication over NHS data …
Government response. The Department restates its recognition that it needs to improve communication on data security and the benefits of digital healthcare, and that different approaches are needed for different audiences.
Department of Health and Social Care
14
Conclusion
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Accepted in Part
Digital transformation can offer people more choice and control over their healthcare, and empower them to manage their health, and apps offer an accessible starting point for many. But whether peoples’ experiences with digital healthcare are positive depends in large part on whether they use an appropriate product. The Department …
Government response. The government closed the previous NHS Apps library as ineffective and established the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) as a national standard for digital health technologies used in the NHS. A directory of DTAC-compliant products is planned for late 2023/24, …
Department of Health and Social Care
15
Recommendation
Eighth Report - Digital transformation …
Rejected
The Department and NHS England should work together to introduce a more comprehensive accreditation scheme for third-party healthcare apps, in addition to the current approach of recommending specific apps on some nhs.uk webpages. Within this scheme it should be easy for people to check whether a healthcare app that they …
Government response. The government rejected the recommendation for a comprehensive third-party app accreditation scheme, stating the previous NHS Apps library was ineffective, and instead established DTAC standards for apps used in the NHS, planning a directory for these by late 2023/24.
Department of Health and Social Care