Investment in digital transformation in the NHS appears to be lagging well behind other major NHS functions, with financial records showing that governance and health system administration accounts for only £3.8 billion of the NHS’s overall £191.7 billion budget.
Modern, effective and efficient technology is vital for the NHS to achieve its digital transformation aspirations and has been recognised as a key growth area. Yet growing, it is not. Out of the top six major functions within the NHS, ‘Governance and health system administration’ is the only one that showed a decline in investment over time.
The NHS 2016 published accounts show that the funds to drive digital transformation have not been allocated. Investment in new systems, is the only way the NHS can move forward efficiently.
Challenges of a digital NHS
The NHS has made progress towards digitalisation with the creation of STPs and NHS digital. The strategy has been identified and the goal set. However, more must be done to drive through these technology changes.
One challenge has been the sheer complexity of the NHS. The size of the organisation, in terms of numbers of staff and patients, plus the fact the NHS is still using slow and very dated processes including paperwork and fax machines, which will take time to fully convert to a digital environment, especially with the added requirement of saving vital historical data.
In addition, the NHS uses an array of legacy systems, implemented to address specific problems or services. These are usually stand-alone systems which require a great deal of administrative support; adding new users or processing the data output. In the long-run they tend to slow-down processes rather than increase productivity.
The idea of digital transformation is to bring together systems, creating efficiencies and removing wasted administrative tasks that could, and should, be automated.
Removing unnecessary administration
Identity and access management is fundamental to ensuring a digital NHS works securely and efficiently. Utilising a system that matches and reconciles vital person details within ESR, Active Directory and NHSmail should be at the heart of any digital strategy.
BDS Solutions Directory Manager does exactly that. Synchronising data across ESR, NHSmail and Active Directory, Directory Manager enables system integration, providing a secure and highly-efficient mechanism to retain control of access management.
Access management underpins a digital NHS. Without automating full control of who has access to what and ensuring that staff records are accurate, the NHS cannot securely implement additional digital solutions.
To protect the NHS for the next 70 years, digital transformation is critical. Strategically, the NHS must start with linking together vital systems that underpin all other technology. But investment must be made a top priority if the NHS is going to achieve digitalisation.