Nowhere in the public sector is the issue of legacy IT better exemplified than in healthcare. The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is well known for championing technology. He has described technology in the NHS as “clunky, clunky, clunky,” lamenting that the NHS is “the world’s most frustrating place to work, for its IT.”
Think Tank, Reform, has brought together the ideas generated from a recent ‘Policy Hackathon’ with Amazon Web Services, on the topic of ‘Time to update: Moving away from legacy IT in healthcare’. Participants in the event including NHS Chief Digital Offices, Chief Digital and Information Officers, Chief Clinical Information Officers, clinicians, industry leaders and senior policy makers. The discussion focused on specific challenges identified in legacy migration projects, across three domains: Risk; People, Skills and Ways of Working; and Value for Money.
In an opinion piece for publictechnology.net, report co-author, Matthew Fetzer, stresses that NHS workers must themselves be at the centre of technology reform. Involving the workforce in the design phase of products and the decision-making process, including enabling staff to test products before they are introduced is critical to ensuring the technology meets the needs of those who will be using it.
The report makes a series of recommendations to address the challenges and ensure successful implementation.
