NHS leaders see IT as promising NHS opportunity

Tags: Quality Safety

24 Jun 2008

Over 90% of NHS leaders see IT as a promising opportunity for the NHS over the next ten years, a poll for the NHS Confederation has found.

NHS Confederation surveyed over 200 senior NHS officials ahead of its conference last week, and asked them to identify threats and opportunities to the NHS.

The poll found 103 respondents (51%) saw new IT as a major opportunity to the NHS, with a further 80 (40%) seeing it as a minor opportunity.

63% of respondents also said it was not a threat to the future of the NHS over the next decade.

However, in a separate question, respondents were asked to rate the top three most important things to their trust. Connecting for Health was only prioritised by 2% of respondents, with the majority of these placing the National Programme for IT in third place.

Just one respondent placed it as their number one priority. Five respondents made it their second priority, and six their third priority.

Telemedicine was also seen an opportunity for the NHS over the next decade, with 93% identifying it as a promising development over the next decade.

Of the responses, 95 (45%) saw it as a major opportunity, 101 (48%) as a minor opportunity, and 159 (80%) as not a threat.

NHS Confederation chairman Bryan Stoten, said: “As NHS leaders we believe markets are important but quality and safety trump everything. I concur completely – these must be right at the heart of our improvement agenda.

“Market reforms combined with innovation are likely to increase the pace of change. The danger of continuous change is burn-out so we will need to work hard at supporting staff and ensuring that the change agenda is being driven by them. We want the dynamism to come from within the service.”

New technology was also welcomed by the NHS leaders as an opportunity for the next ten years.

The poll found 93% saw it as an opportunity with 123 (59%) and 72 (34%) thought it was a minor opportunity. Almost 70% (137 respondents) said it was not a threat.

The main threats were identified as a possible economic downturn, rising prices and further structural change.

Stoten said: “NHS leaders are understandably cynical about reassurances from the government and political parties around structural change.”

Link

NHS Confederation

Joe Fernandez

Readers Comments

Other opportunities ....

24 Jun 08 06:49

Were the NHS leaders who responded asked to consider the opportunity costs in forming their opinions? If not, I'd suggest that this finding is meaningless.

All too often the (often unproven) benefits of NHS IT are considered in isolation, rather than compared with the outcomes of other potential investments. In a time of economic downturn, this seems even more important.

ideology trumps science

cpoee1@yahoo.com

24 Jun 08 07:25

Considering the delays and disruptions experienced by most, what can possibly be the basis for these opinions? Is it that ideology has trumped scientific inquiry? Get real!

Cepi

Good IT essential in market madness

24 Jun 08 17:05

With the current fad back towards expanding the internal market, the ability to count activity and justify it using IT systems is essential.

Understanding the business of healthcare, responding to new opportunities, or just defending existing services without good IT systems would be very difficult.

Since NPfIT solutions have mostly frustrated users, and provided barriers to progress, it is not suprising that CfH is counted so low in priorities.

I am far more interested to see real operational benefit to clinicians and their patients, along the lines Frank Burns highlighted in the 1998 IfH strategy. GPs are now mostly paperless not just because of incentives (although QoF and IM&T DES have helped), but because they recognise it is a far more efficient way to deal with patients.

There are in my view too many initiatives still spawning systems to just count activity rather than to support good healthcare. Opportunity costs as comment 1 suggests are important, but so is any IT system that the users come to rely on.

51% ?

max.lock@live.co.uk

26 Jun 08 07:05

Its not a great majority is it, I would think that the 40% were obviously better informed about the project.

These projects willl probably deliver by, I suspect by 2012. The software and service providers will continue making millions which could be spent on patient care and salary increases, whilst they try and deliver and also start upgrading the products.

Its like painting the Forth Bridge, Perpetual.