An independent panel of experts* commissioned by the Health and Social Care Committee has given the Government an inadequate rating on progress against its vital commitments to digitise the NHS.
In a policy paper published in 2022 the Government stated the digitisation of health and social care is essential to deliver the promise of improved and better integrated health and social care services. Despite what it calls “some encouraging progress,” the Expert Panel found key Government commitments on workforce and the use of patient information were either not met or not on track to be met, with progress against four of the nine commitments made rated as inadequate. Furthermore, poor interoperability continues to prevent the effective flow of information both within and between hospital providers, general practice providers, community providers and social care providers.
It is progress against the two workforce commitments that scores the most inadequate ratings. The Government had committed to:
• Creating a national digital workforce strategy with the health and care system setting out a framework for bridging the skills gap and making the NHS an attractive place to work
• Enabling recruitment and retention and growth of the digital, data, technology workforce to meet challenging projected health and care demand by 2030 through graduates, apprentices and experienced hires, creating posts for an additional 10,500 full-time staff.
Against the five measurables for each commitment (so 10 in total), the rated awarded by the Expert Panel is inadequate in all but two: Appropriateness of the ambition to create a national digital workforce strategy is rated as good, and funding and resource of that same commitment is rated requires improvement.
“What is particularly disappointing is that the Government recognises that the digitisation of the NHS is essential to bring about real benefits to patients, for example by helping them to monitor and manage long-term health conditions independently. Yet time and again, promises have been made but not delivered, hampering wider progress,” says Professor Dame Jane Dacre.
“We heard about issues with interoperability between systems and providers, making it difficult for all parts of the system to communicate effectively, leading to delays and efficiency losses. Evidence also highlights challenges in recruiting, retaining and building the specialised digital workforce, yet Ministers have delayed a strategy focused on delivering a digital workforce.
“The aspirations to transform the NHS, supported by the right digital foundations, are to be applauded, however, our report finds evidence mainly of opportunities missed.”
* The core members of the Expert Panel are Professor Dame Jane Dacre (Chair), Professor Emma Cave, Professor Anita Charlesworth CBE, Sir Robert Francis KC, Sir David Pearson and Professor Stephen Peckham.
