Digital transformation is at the heart of what we do. We believe in a joined-up, system-wide approach to embracing the opportunities and tackling the challenges around transforming healthcare with digital enablers.
There has been an exponential rise in recognition of the huge potential that digital tools and services offer to transform health and care services.
From supporting remote monitoring to improving the flow of information, digital tools have the power to transform the way health and care are delivered. Digital technologies are integral to many of the changes envisaged in the NHS long-term plan. Making a reality of these ambitions will require a stronger emphasis on engaging and upskilling the people expected to use digital technologies at all levels in the NHS, particularly clinicians.
How we support health and care colleagues
We work from the ground up to support NHS digital strategy by embedding ourselves in local systems, working with local, regional, and national teams to support the delivery of solid foundations on which the digital future can be built.
We continuously help our systems to ‘join the dots’ – connecting like-minded digital evangelists, supporting the sharing of knowledge and experience, and promoting innovation opportunities with service transformation needs.
We recently worked with colleagues across the country to gather learning about Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology, implementation and benefits, as an emerging technology that appears to have the potential to make a significant contribution to releasing NHS capacity. Find out more about RPA here.
Understanding the problems digital technologies can solve
The scale and pace of digital transformation and the opportunities it offers can be bewildering. Our work centres on helping health and care colleagues to fully understand the problems they are seeking to address and supporting the identification of the most appropriate digital innovations to meet these needs.
Connecting and collaborating
In parallel, we develop collaboration and knowledge-sharing opportunities to support effective and efficient implementation of chosen solutions, together with evaluation mechanisms to underpin further adoption and spread. One example of this is the implementation of a system-wide Advice and Guidance system in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
We have worked with Health Education England to deliver a South West region Informatics Skills Development Network to support the development of our workforce, not just technical but also our key operational and clinical stakeholders who are the driving force behind digitally enabled system transformation.
New ways of delivering healthcare services
The response to the Covid pandemic saw an unprecedented rise in both the appetite for and adoption of digital health technologies that support new ways of delivering healthcare services, especially where physical contact is not possible or where there is a priority need to deliver care outside of hospital, including in people’s homes. The approach to using digital tools and services is undergoing a seismic shift across all our systems. Throughout the pandemic we were the link between the NHS South West regional team and colleagues in our local Integrated Care Systems.
By providing practical support to articulate local priorities to innovators, we help speed up the introduction and subsequent spread and adoption of impactful digital enablers, accelerating opportunities for SMEs and industry to support digital healthcare of the future. One example of this would be our work supporting the improvement of remote monitoring of residents in care homes. Another is the support we provided to trial a telehealth application across care homes with residents with learning disabilities in Gloucestershire.
Get in touch
To find out more about our Digital Transformation work, get involved or find out how we might support your organisation, please email weahsn.innovation@nhs.net.
