TechUK launches ‘Manifesto for Matt’ to help Health Secretary focus on NHS digital reform
- Summary:
- Matt Hancock has been Health and Social Secretary for over 100 days now, and has wasted no time in highlighting the importance of digital technologies to the NHS’s future. Can he succeed?
The most recently appointed Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, who was previously a Digital Minister, is hoping to avoid these mistakes of the past. And he’s wasted no time in stating his ambitions for using technology to improve the operations and experience of the NHS.
For example, Hancock has already committed over half a billion pounds in funding, convened a new health technology advisory board, and has launched a Vision for Digital, Data and Technology in Health and Care, setting out his Department’s initial approach to digitising the sector. Part of that has been taking a tough line with vendors that don’t comply with open standards, interoperability, user-led design and a cloud-first approach - stating that they will be phased out.
To aid Hancock in his mission, techUK, the industry lobby group for technology businesses in the UK, has this week launched a ‘Manifesto for Matt’. The Manifesto seeks to build upon Hancock’s vision for technology in the NHS and makes a number of recommendations.
Ben Moody, Head of Health and Social Care at techUK said:
“There is broad consensus that the health and care system needs urgent digitisation. This is not about a lack of will – the public and clinicians are crying out for better tech – and the UK has thousands of health tech innovators looking to serve them.
“However, the system is unwieldly and frustrates their efforts. Patients can get hold of drugs but not their own data or digital tools. Far too many of the workforce will leave their digitally-enabled home, put away their smart phone and tablet, and pick up paper and a pen when they arrive at work. And health tech innovators find themselves working in a sector often described as the most challenging of all.
“The good news is that there is huge momentum throughout the health and care system, from the Secretary of State to the frontline to transform the sector. This presents huge opportunities to work together to transform lives.”
1 - Promoting public-powered prevention
TechUK argues that giving the public access to their own health and care data can drive patient engagement, help people to understand treatment plans, adopt a healthier lifestyle and result in less unscheduled visits to healthcare professionals.
There are a growing number of apps that allow people to view their own health and care data, but as techUK notes, these apps need to have access to full health and care records. TechUK is calling for an NHS website that lists approved apps where people play can access their data in a user-friendly form.
The manifesto also calls for a wider expansion of the Conservative Party’s ‘Personal Technology Budget’ policy, which gives a patient control over what they spend their care money on. This would allow a patient to apply for a ‘Personal Technology Budget’ and choose what tools they require for treatment.
The document also notes that the NHS App is due to be launched in December 2018, with the stated aim of “giving the public more power to manage interactions with the system”. However, techUK warns that the NHS shouldn’t crowd out existing tools on the market and should instead provide a link to tools already out there. It states:
“The app could present a huge opportunity to provide customised digital tools to those who need them. Future iterations of the app should allow users to link to a wide range of proven digital tools to meet their health needs. It is vital that in doing so the NHS looks to the market to provide the best tools available rather than seeking to reinvent the wheel.
“This will encourage investment and innovation whilst ensuring that the public can access the best digital health tools in the world.”
2 - Enabling a world class workforce
The NHS is the largest employer in the UK, with 3.1 million people working in either health or social care. However, NHS staff are under significant pressure, which has been amplified reduced budgets and a fall in people coming to live and work in the UK.
However, more can to be done to alleviate pressure on staff within the NHS through the use of technology. The manifesto notes that the NHS still has some way to go in just getting the basics right.
It states that as a priority, NHS trusts “should be supported to implement what staff see as the digital basics, including fast and secure single sign-on, reliable WiFi, secure peer-to-peer communication tools and sufficient devices to allow contemporaneous work”.
In addition, Matt Hancock should be looking to secure further funding for the NHS Digital Academy up until 2030. It currently has funding for three years up until 2021, with the aim of training 300 digital leaders in that time. However, techUK is calling on Hancock to “ensure the sustainability of the NHS Digital Academy in line with the NHS Long-Term Plan; and increase its intake so that it can develop a greater number of digital leaders in health and care”.
3 - Making the UK the #1 destination for health tech innovators
The government can do a number of things to ensure that it creates a thriving health ecosystem in the UK, which in turn should not only deliver benefits to the NHS, but also boost revenues for the Exchequer.
Central to this, according to techUK, is ensuring that there is safe and secure access to Health and Social Care data. The manifesto argues that innovators need a simple framework that allows them safe access to NHS data to develop, test and prove their solutions.
It states:
“To ensure that this model succeeds we would like to see NHS Digital, Health Data Research UK (as hosts of the Digital Innovation Hubs) and the 15 regional Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) working together to ensure that companies in all regions can benefit from access to data in a secure environment.
“The AHSNs offer an unparalleled opportunity to promote health tech innovation in all regions of England. Given the right funding and national guidance, they could host facilities to offer support, advice and tools to companies in their region to facilitate simple, safe and secure access to health and care data.”
In addition, techUK is calling on the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England to work towards a clearer framework landscape a simpler procurement process for suppliers supporting the NHS. It argues that suppliers need a “more coherent, less time consuming and less costly” route to market than is currently available.
Finally, techUK asks that Hancock protect the funding that has been committed to the NHS for digital projects. It states:
We were encouraged to see that since taking office the new Secretary of State has announced or confirmed more than half a billion pounds in funding commitments for digital health and care. It is vital that these hard-won funding settlements are properly ringfenced and not siphoned off as soon as the unsurprising pressures of winter kick in.
“Similarly, we have seen the damage that can be done when funding seeks projects rather than the other way around. ‘More haste’ has significantly contributed to the lower speed of NHS IT in the past; and damaged the ability of advocates to secure future funding.
“As such, techUK recommends a long-term health technology fund whereby underspends can be allocated to the right digitisation initiatives at the right time. We would like to see ring-fenced funding remain exactly that – to expand the allegory, a 50ft high ringfence, with barbed wire on the top.”