Patients being cared for by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust in the future will benefit from a new digital approach to their health and care, outlined in the Trust’s new Digital, Data and Technology Strategy.
The strategy, which has been pulled together with input from Trust clinicians, non-medical staff and patients, lays out a clear five-year strategy to guide the Trust’s approach to digital, data and technology, helping them to become a data-driven organisation that provides smart digital care to all patients.
The Trust’s main focus in this strategy is how they use digital, data and technology to improve patient care at its hospitals in Peterborough, Huntingdon, Stamford, Doddington and Ely. As their digital mission states, ‘using flexible and resilient technology, adopting the best innovations, and advancing our digital skills, we will empower our teams, patients and wider communities to drive transformation and deliver outstanding safe care’.
For Chief Digital Information Officer, Geraldine Wingfield-Hill, the importance of this strategy cannot be underestimated. She said: “It is widely acknowledged that the long-term sustainability of health and social care is dependent on having the right digital foundations in place. This is a vital step into the future for the Trust, as we plan to work smarter, more sustainably and also provide better care for patients. It is also important that we have the digital skills for our community, the digital foundations and the digital healthcare systems.
“Digital technology makes things safer and more convenient for our patients; and when done well, can make all our lives easier. Our patients are looking for more control, convenience and involvement in how they manage their health and wellbeing, and access care.
“They increasingly want (and expect) to see a more integrated system locally, where they don’t have to repeat themselves multiple times to get the care they need. And we, as care professionals have a duty to embrace digital technology to provide a more integrated, and safe, journey for all our patients. This strategy has the patient at the heart of it, as we strive to provide sustainable and improved local care for local people.”
The strategy, which was officially launched yesterday during a visit from Helen Clifton, Executive Director of Product Delivery at NHS Digital, Sonia Patel, System Chief Information Officer at NHS England, Dermot Ryan, Director of Front-line Digitisation at NHS England, Dave Turner, Chief Technical Officer at NHS England and Luke Readman, Regional Director of Digital Transformation for East of England, also includes a number of case studies where the Trust are already making progress against some of their digital objectives, and the Trust intends to share these examples in the coming weeks.
