Public health badly needs a digital revolution. Here’s how to make it happen.

The NHS needs a technological blueprint for the next decade, argues ServiceNow’s Damian Stirrett. (Image: Shutterstock)

For Britons, the NHS is a powerful symbol of national pride. The government’s latest 10-year plan is clearly a bid to ensure that things stay that way. Motivated by the goal of shifting more resources than ever before into deprived communities – towns and cities that, currently, receive 10% less funding and have 300 more people per GP than more affluent areas – the plan reallocates billions to ensure that the needs of these people are not only met, but exceeded. 

The 10-year plan also highlights the scope of savings from targeting inefficiencies within the NHS, including pushing integrated care boards (ISBs) to cut wasteful spending. The potential for savings through modernisation and digital transformation, too, is enormous. Potentially worth up to £35bn, these efficiencies, like those already realised, can be reinvested to directly enhance patient care across the UK. 

Public-private partnerships

Technology companies have an important role to play here in partnering with the NHS to deploy new, cutting-edge platforms and transform the experience of doctors, nurses and patients in the process. That all begins in the HR department. Employing 1.5m people, NHS recruitment and onboarding has historically proven to be a long-winded process, with new hires taking up to 120 days to be fully integrated into the organisation. The recent addition of so-called ‘staff passports,’ however, is set to speed up that process by 70% and cut HR interactions with frontline workers in half. Over time, the rollout of such technology could save up to £750m a year, freeing up an impressive 29m hours of staff time. 

Delivering federated corporate services, which allow interoperability and information sharing between different departments, could boost cost savings still further. Today, the NHS spends £15.5bn a year (equivalent to 6.5% of its whole budget) on technologies throughout its HR, Finance, IT and corporate services departments. Many of these platforms run on siloed systems that are not integrated with other parts of the organisation. 

To deliver a truly future-ready NHS, trusts need to increase cross-team collaborations and significantly reduce unnecessary costs. This means technology solutions must be integrated across all trusts. Modernising and standardising these core functions could save an estimated £1.6bn a year. 

Cutting red tape

There are also significant savings to be made by reducing the administrative burden on NHS staff. Simply connecting health and care data sources, such as electronic health records, can help not only to reduce pressures on GPs but also to modernise the patient experience. By implementing a personalised patient portal, patients can manage their own data and book appointments seamlessly.

Virtual assistants and advanced AI triaging systems are already helping transform services at GP practices, helping GPs to allocate appointments and deal with the dreaded 8am phone rush. At GPs across Britain, the use of AI tools for this purpose has cut missed appointments by 30% and reduced waiting times by 73%. If this were to be widely applied across the country, it could save the NHS up to £345m a year. 

Digital safeguarding

AI also has an important role to play in keeping the NHS safe from cyberattacks. Like any other organisation, our health service is vulnerable to external threats and is a target for cybercriminals. The threat of cyberattacks is growing, and in healthcare systems, these attacks can put sensitive data at risk. 

Using a single trusted AI platform to streamline systems across the NHS and public would enhance security. With a ‘digital control tower’, NHS leaders could enable real-time monitoring and responses to outages and threats. This step could free up employee time to focus on patient care and significantly boost efficiency. 

The government’s 10-year plan has highlighted how significant the savings from targeting inefficiencies in the organisation can be. A comprehensive digital transformation running in parallel will see the service unleash its full potential. The prize for capturing this opportunity is enormous. The cost of failing to do so is equally vast. 

Damian Stirrett is the general manager for the UK & Ireland at ServiceNow

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