Digital is a key enabler to successfully deliver the Joint Forward Plan strategic priorities. Digital Innovation gives us an opportunity to improve patient care and increase efficiency, whilst supporting the wider strategic aims and objectives of the system.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of digital solutions to provide care, in some cases, this unfortunately led to an increase of digital exclusion within some patient groups. It is our duty of care to ensure that we do not inadvertently increase digital exclusion through the implementation of technologies and must ensure that we seek to reduce existing inequalities by working collaboratively with our system partner organisations and local communities.
Our ambition for a digitally enabled Black Country NHS is to coordinate a system wide digital programme, ensuring our staff members and partner organisation have access to the digital facilities to not only achieve our strategic priorities but do so in a way in which addresses digital inequalities, maximises innovation in both the organisation and delivery of care, and provides our workforce with an efficient working environment.
A Digital Roadmap has been developed with key milestones for delivery of the ICS Digital Strategy. The diagram provides an overview of the three-year digital roadmap.
- Electronic Patient Record. This will be real-time, patient centred records for instant information.
- Cyber Security & support. Ensuring that the ICS Partners’ cyber & support approach is robust & aligned for the challenges that come.
- System Alignment. Clinically led programme to review all clinical workforce systems – converging where appropriate to reduce variation or duplication.
- Digital Training Services. A digital training service that will be available across the system, ensuring that there is a standardised approach to training.
- Single Sign on (SSO). SSO is an authentication scheme that allows the workforce to access tools with a single ID across different software systems.
- Data Management and Data Analytics. Data capability to enable visibility of data from across the system to drive evidence based decision making.
- Population Health Management. Iterative, hypothesis driven use of business intelligence to quickly test out ideas, demonstrating insight and impact e.g. repeat attendance in A&E.
- Future PMO Centre of Excellent (CoE). A central resource team of health and care IT professionals qualified in project and programme management which can flex across partner organisations.
- Shared Care Record. A longitudinal care record that brings together data across settings of care. This supports the proactive approach for coordinating care.
- Community Digital Health. This seeks to align ICS community providers and commissioners to co-design, coordinate, drive, advise on and execute the delivery of digital projects.
- Digitising Adult Social Care. Pilot digital social care technology within the ICS to build an evidence based for their impact, develop implementation guidance, assure supplier solution.
- Digital First Primary Care. Embed and build on the digital transformation advances made in primary care and ensure that every patient is offered digital-first primary care by 2023/24.
- Digital Inequalities. Providing citizens with a Geobook laptop device, connectivity, training to build their digital skills and ongoing support for the device.
- Digital Innovations. Collaboration with the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) to support the ICS with the introduction and adoption of new innovations and technologies.
