Report: NHS needs to use IT better

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A health sector think tank has issued a report calling for more effective use of everyday technology in delivering National Health Service (NHS) improvements.

The King’s Fund argued in two new reports issued today that the NHS has been slow to adopt the likes of email, web or SMS-based customer services already in use by financial services, retail and travel industries.

“Even well-established technologies, such as email and the internet, are not being used routinely in the NHS to help patients – for example, with booking GP appointments, receiving routine test results, viewing medical records or having online consultations,” it stated.

Its "Technology in the NHS" report outlined a vision of healthcare over the next decade in which everyday technologies – such as using email to communicate with doctors, to more advanced technologies such as video-conferencing for medical consultations and ‘virtual’ visiting by friends and family technology – are used to transform the way patients receive care and interact with the NHS.

It criticised a lack of leadership and funding on the part of the Department of Health to invest in new technologies, as well as incentives that would, for example, encourage more GPs to establish email contact with their patients.

And it called for better collaboration between, as well as leadership from, the NHS and IT industry to promote technology adoption for better communication with patients in particular.

One key recommendation was that the technology assessments carried out by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) should extend beyond a focus on drugs innovation so that technologies from successful trials can be rolled out more quickly.

The second, "Engaging Patients in Their Health" report published today discussed the uptake of technology in the NHS and how individuals use health services. It concluded that NHS technology use was significantly underdeveloped and poorly deployed.

This report acknowledged that access to general health information via the internet was beginning to change the balance of power between doctors and patients, but that local health trusts could do more to transform the way patients interact with the NHS by also making greater use of new technologies.

The King’s Fund’s Director of Policy Anna Dixon said: “Professional attitudes will need to change and the NHS will need to rethink how it interacts with patients and redesigns services around the needs of patients. Progress has been slow so far but these two reports show the potential prize new technologies offer for both patients and the NHS in terms of better care and financial savings.”

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