Information and Technology for Better Care

What is the ‘Information and Technology for Better Care’ Paper?

NHS Digital (formerly known as The Health and Social Care Information Centre) published a 5 year strategy in 2015 titled ‘Information and Technology for Better Care’. This document covers a number of areas.

A Summary

In previous posts I have written about the strategy. This is my limited summary of the strategy. The interested reader is directed to the original document. A link to the original document can be found in the references section.

The first part focuses on protecting data. The vision is that citizens will be able to see how their data is being used and to determine who is able to access the data. Citizens will also be able to see the benefits of research. This part of the strategy references the NHS Constitution as well as the National Information Board framework.

The second part focuses on a shared architecture and standards. The vision includes

• The development of a national platform
• Enabling citizens to view and contribute to their records
• A roadmap for interfaces to core services such as the NHS spine
• Encouragement of local innovation
• Partnerships to develop standards and accreditation

The strategy links to

• The National Information Board framework
• The Academy of Royal Medical Colleges Publication Standards for the Clinical Structure and Content of Patient Records

The third part focuses on national services to meet local needs. This part of the strategy references key services including

• The NHS spine
• National e-mail services
• National network services
• NHS Choices
• The Summary Care Record
• NHS referrals
• The Electronic Prescription Service

In this part of the strategy there is a focus on developing national standards to ensure universal access and a seamless integration of the key services as well as an extension of these services into social care.

The fourth part focuses on supporting health and care organisations with ‘technology, data and information’. In the strategy it is noted that technology can be used to reduce the funding gap. The HSCIC (now NHS Digital) will support organisations to make use of technology and make expertise available to support organisations with issues such as interoperability. They will develop enabling technology, work with digital champions and establish an innovation centre amongst other actions.

The fifth part of the strategy is about ‘Making Better Use of Health and Care Information’. NHS Digital is developing

• An increasing use of Open Data
• Data extraction services that will reduce burden on care providers to collect data
• The use of personal apps
• The use of wearable devices

The vision is for the UK to be

• A global leader in research
• A global leader in utilising care data to contribute towards services.

 

References

https://digital.nhs.uk/article/249/Our-Strategy, accessed 20.4.17

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