Here an announcement of a Westminster Health Forum Keynote Seminar to take place on 9th February 2016. With its links, it offers a good summary of recent developments in NHS IT and policy.
Westminster Health Forum Keynote Seminar
Electronic patient records and IT in the NHS: commissioning, information governance and implementing the Personalised Health and Care 2020 Framework
Tuesday, 9th February 2016
The focus:
The future use of IT and patient data in the NHS – including the next steps for electronic health records, and challenges for achieving a paperless NHS by 2020.
To note:
- Agenda includes discussion on the use of patient data in medical research; and
- Keynote address from Dr Charlie Davie, Managing Director, UCLPartners Academic Health Science Network.
Context:
- Government announcement in the Spending Review of £1bn of investment in technology to support transformation and integrate patient records across health and care by 2020;
- Implementing the Personalised Health and Care 2020 framework – which sets out proposals for transforming health and care services through data and technology by 2020;
- The delayed launch of the care.data pathfinder pilots, and progress on the care.data programme; and
- Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) benchmarking their digital services and submitting Local Digital Roadmaps by April 2016.
Key discussion points:
- Patient involvement in electronic health records and implementing a system allowing patients to access their own GP records online by 2016;
- Next steps for Summary Care Records (SCRs) in driving integration, with SCRs currently rolling out to community pharmacy;
- Information governance and data protection, with the National Data Guardian and CQC taking on new responsibilities in overseeing the use of patient records in health and care;
- Using reliable data and informatics for healthcare research; and
- Developing the role of Big Data to improve healthcare insight and reduce pressure on health and social care services.
More info at: http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/event.php?eid=1121
An extract of the Government announcement in the Spending Review, 25 November 2015:
” the government will be investing up to £300 million per year on diagnostics by 2020 to fund new equipment and additional staff capacity…
New investment of £1 billion in technology will support this transformation and integrate patient records across health and social care by 2020.The government will invest over £5 billion in health research and development over the next 5 years to fund key priorities such as the 100,000 genomes project, research into antimicrobial resistance and investment in the Ross Fund to tackle malaria.”
…
The Carter Review is helping hospitals get the most out of their workforce by using smart rostering systems and improving staff management practices to ensure staff spend more time with patients and less on paperwork; ensuring improved stock management of medicines in hospital pharmacies to reduce wastage (£1 billion); and achieving procurement savings (£1 billion) from bulk buying day to day items for the NHS.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/department-of-healths-settlement-at-the-spending-review-2015
