What is NHSX and how is it driving digital transformation in the NHS?
What is NHSX?
NHSX is a new joint unit that has been set up to drive the digital transformation of the health service. It will link together leaders from government, the NHS and industry.
What will NHSX do?
NHSX will work with the NHS and wider digital economy to build world-class digital services.
It will allow both patients and staff to benefit from the latest digital systems and technology; helping us to diagnose diseases earlier, free up staff time and empower patients to take greater control of their own healthcare.
Just some of its responsibilities will include:
- Ensuring that systems can talk to each other across the NHS
- Supporting the use of new technologies within the NHS, both by working with industry and via its own prototyping and development capability
- Ensuring that common technologies and services, including the NHS App, are designed so that trusts and surgeries don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time
- Championing and developing digital training, skills and culture so staff are digital-ready
Why now?
Currently, much NHS technology relies on systems designed for a pre-internet age and digital transformation has been slow due to responsibilities being split across multiple teams and organisations. This means that patients don’t always get the care they need because their data does not follow them around the system.
NHSX will change this by bringing together all key players for the first time.
Health Secretary, Matt Hancock said:
“Because I care about patients getting the best treatment, I care about the NHS getting the best technology. But everyone knows how hard it’s been to get the NHS to adopt the best in digital.
Modern technology has an incredible potential to change people’s lives for the better and revolutionise the care they receive.
NHSX will combine some of the best minds from among the NHS, leading innovators, and government into one unit to set national policy, remove red tape and create a culture of innovation to allow the best innovations to flourish.”
Follow this link for more information about NSHX on the government website.
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