Pinned straw:
https://www.digitalhealth.net/2023/07/nhs-england-sets-out-seven-short-term-digital-priorities/
The second priority is Electronic Bed and Capacity Management (EBCM), focused on roll-out across acute trusts enabling live, real-time data on bed status and patient flow. According to NHS England 56% of beds so far have EBMS.
The guidance says that Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust saw a 45% reduction in patient transfer times as a result of introducing EBCMS, gaining 2258 hours of nursing time monthly. No sources are cited for the claimed benefits.
The briefing materials suggest EBCM can be fully rolled out across the NHS within just five months
The third priority is Digitised Records and Workflow, otherwise known as Electronic Patient Records (EPR), to support increased productivity, quality and safety.
NHS England claims ‘Productivity has been increased by up to 13% in the most digitised trusts’. Again, no source is cited for the claimed benefits.
The document states that 88% of secondary care trusts have EPRs in place and that these can be fully deployed in 18-24 months.
NHS England is currently assessing bids for up to £70m of investment in patient portals, while a further £21m has recently been announced for AI investment, but details are unknown for any funding that may be made available for the other priority areas.
Speaking in the opening keynote session at the University of Birmingham, Dr Diwakar confirmed that both the government and NHS England’s previous EPR targets will not be achieved but that all trusts are currently on track to have a system in place by March 2026.
The then health secretary Sajid Javid set out in February 2022 a target of 90% of NHS trusts to have an EPR in place by December 2023, which is still on track to be achieved, however NHS England’s target for all trusts to have one in place by March 2025 has been pushed back by 12 months to March 2026