21 Mar 2022

Event round-up: Rewired 2022 National Policy Keynote

Last week, techUK attended the National Policy stage at the Digital Health Rewired 2022 conference in London.

The chair was John Hoeksma, CEO, Digital Health, and the speakers were:

Dr Tim Ferris, Director of Transformation, NHS E&I

Matthew Taylor, CEO, NHS Confederation

Frank Hester OBE, Founder and CEO, TPP

Dr Tim Ferris - Director of Transformation, NHS E&I

Tim began by explaining that one of his key priorities is to re-organise operations so there is a single, clear voice behind all digital improvement and transformation activity. As such, bringing multiple directorates under one umbrella should enable citizens to make sense of priorities at the centre of the NHS. He also cited the 19% of acute trusts that do not yet have access to an Electronic Patient Record (EPR), calling this ‘patchy digital excellence’ and referring to EPR adoption as something that is ’not pleasant, but necessary’.

He then went on to state that while there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, the process of managed convergence should ultimately prove beneficial for both patients and clinicians as everybody expects that those caring for others are all on the same page.

Tim then touched upon the challenge of capacity within the NHS. He explained that 20-30% of hospitalisations are due to reasons of practicality – such as the need for monitoring or access to specialist equipment – meaning that technologies like virtual care platforms could dramatically change the field of play. Many of these already exist, he said, and so the challenge now is how to scale them.

On the Covid-19 pandemic, he explained that whilst the NHS responded strongly at the time, this was a singular issue in which many were afforded considerable freedom regarding the nature of their response. However, Tim warned that as we revert to our old ways of working, it will once again be harder to push for things like digitisation. He ended his speech by stressing the importance of the responsible use of data, arguing that we should all be data guardians who actively consider patient and legal considerations wherever possible.

Matthew Taylor - CEO, NHS Confederation

After outlining the ways in which policy typically fails, Matthew listed several innovations that he would like to see achieved across the sector:

The ability for patients to hold their own data
Personalised intervention
The diagnostic revolution
Self-specialist referral
More accurate AI diagnosis at secondary level
Robotic surgery
Health on the Highstreet

Crucially, he emphasised that whilst striving to implement these, we must remain true to the core commitments of the NHS.

Matthew then turned to the topic of innovation, explaining that across the public sector (and within the NHS) there are islands of innovation as opposed to innovation in one place that leads to innovation in other places. He also claimed that contrary to popular belief, centrally mandated ‘lift and shift’ innovation that ignores local circumstances just doesn’t work.

He then went on to list four core requirements for leaders and policymakers within the NHS:

A clear vision accompanied by prioritisation
A genuinely enabling environment in which staff have enough headspace and time for training, professional or organisational development
The ability to manage public expectations
The ability to recognise that innovation is a sub-set of improvement

Matthew ended his speech by explaining that the NHS Confederation will continue to advocate on behalf of such changes, boost the sector’s understanding of the ICS system, and help the NHS become a better, self-improving system.

In the Q&A, he helpfully set out the four greatest benefits he saw regarding the recent introduction of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs):

Integrated Care partnerships mean that we can begin to re-define health policy beyond the health service, with, for example, ICSs possessing the scope to devise mental health strategies and then incorporate these into education and housing services. They could also enable the health service to understand its wider role in health
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) can provide challenge by being less hands-on and more strategic, and by incentivising health outcomes over activity
The collaboration facilitated by ICSs could boost between-institution learning
A greater focus on place and locality will provide an incredible opportunity to engage the public in new and innovative ways

Frank Hester OBE - Founder and CEO, TPP

Frank opened his speech by talking about the NHS backlog and linking this to significant staff burnout rates. He claimed that new and improved IT systems could alleviate some of these pressures.

He then turned to the matter of digitising the NHS and listed several things that he believes are needed for this to be achieved:

Transparency and higher penalties for suppliers that don’t deliver
Stricter standards governing suppliers that provide alternate versions of the same software to different parts of the UK
Rigorous accountability from the centre – For example, penalising suppliers that keep vital data from the NHS

We look forward to working with Dr Tim Ferris on his digital improvement and transformation agenda and will continue to highlight member opportunities for early market engagement. You can contribute to our work on topics such as interoperability and the role of ICSs by joining our next Social Care Working Group meeting on Tuesday 26 April, or alternatively sign up to our newsletters here.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Rory Daniels, Programme Manager at techUK: [email protected].