26.09.17
Vanguards offer key lessons for harnessing tech in new care models
NHS Confederation, NHS Clinical Commissioners, NHS Providers and the Local Government Association have issued a report exploring the ways in which five vanguards are using innovative technology to transform how care is delivered.
The report, ‘New Care Models: Harnessing Technology’, features case studies from East and North Hertfordshire, Better Care Together Morecambe Bay, Better Together Mid Nottinghamshire, Salford Together and East Midlands Radiology Consortium.
It describes how the starting point for the introduction of any technology should always be the perspective of the end user. Service users and clinicians should co-develop technologies to ensure a product is fit for purpose and guarantee its successful implementation.
In isolation, small-scale technologies cannot deliver the shift envisioned by the Five Year Forward View; but if used correctly, digital technologies can help to break down the barriers between primary, secondary and social care services.
Combining technologies with new ways of working has the potential to transform the way in which services needs are met. For example, an NHS England review showed that text messaging had a positive impact on the monitoring of HbA1C and glycaemic control in diabetics.
The experience of these vanguards shows that it is possible to overcome the challenges posed by introducing new technologies within healthcare, enabling an efficient, personalised care.
NHS Providers chief executive, Chris Hopson, said that learning from New Care Model vanguards and experts across the relevant areas would “ensure our work has the appropriate cross system focus it will clearly need.”
“Above all, our work is most powerful and successful when it’s done in close collaboration with our members,” he added. “We will consult closely with them as we prepare more detailed plans over the next six weeks. We’re excited by the prospect of supporting them even more effectively as they move into a new landscape and effect important changes.”
Today’s report comes as part of a series of resources being produced by the health partners to spread the vanguard learnings more widely across the sector.
(Top image c. Wavebreakmedia)