30.05.12
NHS Information Strategy
Source: Professor Michael Thick, Vice President Clinical Strategy and Governance, McKesson
Delivering a world-class integrated care model in theUKwill depend heavily upon the ability of health and social care systems to maximise the power of the information they routinely generate. To achieve this, the challenge of interoperability must be overcome.
In truth, most of what is required to develop national standards has already been written. It simply needs to be put in place and be directive enough to make a difference.
But for the NHS, the challenge is not technological. It is cultural. The health service, driven by the QIPP challenge of making cost savings and quality gains in equal measure, is changing – and NHS professionals need to change with it. Clinicians are increasingly being challenged to become more innovative in the way that they work.
As the drive to improve and redesign care pathways gathers momentum, health care providers are being asked to reconfigure services so that they are more convenient and patient-centric. But once these new services have been designed, developed and implemented, the true benefits will only be realised when they are underpinned by appropriate technologies to support them.
Prof Thick is the ex-senior medical advisor to the Choose and Book and PACS Programmes, and ex-chief clinical officer to Connecting for Health.
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