New ways of working forecast

Many now acknowledge that telehealth and other digital technology could in future play a significant role in ensuring more proactive and targeted patient care, improving access to specialist clinical expertise, and promoting greater patient engagement, while for estates and facilities teams wider implementation could considerably impact the use of buildings, as more care and treatment become available outside ‘traditional’ medical settings. The recent Completing the Picture conference at the Nottingham Belfry, sponsored by an educational grant from Welch Allyn, addressed the productivity and patient safety challenges for the NHS, and how digital technology and medical devices might help overcome them, as Louise Frampton, editor of HEJ’s sister magazine, The Clinical Services Journal (‘CSJ’), reports.

New technology is transforming the delivery of healthcare and the management of population health, yet strategic decisions about clinical transformation and the associated investment in information and digital technology can all too often be a footnote to NHS board discussions. This needs to change, according to Candace Imison, director of policy, Nuffield Trust. Speaking at the Completing the Picture conference, which was chaired by Malcolm Phillips, head of medical equipment management at NHS Lothian, and recognised by IPEM, Candace Imison discussed the findings of her recent research on the benefits of digital healthcare, conducted on behalf of the Nuffield Trust. She highlighted some key areas of opportunity, the path to digital maturity, and considered what the future holds.

The report, Delivering the benefits of digital healthcare, published earlier this year, was based on a number of interviews with NHS leaders and healthcare organisations which have already been actively pursuing a digital strategy for many years, and an extensive literature and evidence review.1