Digital technology is key when it comes to achieving the new government’s vision of moving care closer to home with its Neighbourhood Health Service according to a new independent report by The King’s Fund, commissioned by Nourish Care, the leading digital care management software in the UK.
The report found that the strain on hospitals would be eased if digital technologies were better utilised by GPs, pharmacies, community trusts, and care providers. The tech could also improve patient experience and outcomes and help people with ongoing care needs to live independent and full lives.
According to the report, community providers are often at the back of the queue when it comes to accessing the funding they need to digitally transform and improve services. This exacerbates the huge variation in digital tools available to staff and patients.
Some integrated care systems are trying to overcome these challenges by creating additional systems that link all records across multiple organisations.
The researchers also point out that digital tech users have different levels of aptitude. To combat this, some integrated care systems are working to tailor their services to the individual, starting with people’s existing digital skills and building from there. This might mean some people have an app on their phone; for others, a better option might be a tablet acting as a display for simple notifications.
Many digital technologies used in community settings were originally built with hospitals in mind, which can lead to staff frustrations because it doesn’t always cater to their way of working. District nurses who often work in people’s homes complained about struggling to connect to the internet, poor battery life, and heavy laptops.
Many NHS staff find that electronic records software can interrupt workflows and staff are often left to duplicate tasks across different systems. To avoid this inefficiency, The King’s Fund concludes that NHS and social care staff in the community should be involved in developing or selecting systems which will work best for them.
Nuno Almeida, founder, and CEO of Nourish, says: “The new government faces huge infrastructure and budget challenges, but recent history has shown simply increasing healthcare spending has limited impact on patient outcomes. However, we do know from experience that well-designed and well-implemented digital technology does improve outcomes and make it easier for health and social care teams to do their jobs. One way to drastically improve is to invest in digital technology which will streamline processes, save time, and join up care information across the board. To do this the wider system needs to come together and co-create a solution designed for a community setting. A community nurse should be able to tap on a screen and see a patient’s medical notes, when they last drank water, if they had a recent fall…everything should be at their fingertips.”
The King’s Fund’s independent report draws on a roundtable with national stakeholders and expert research. The King’s Fund engaged with 16 individuals, including people who draw on services, staff, providers, and suppliers. Plus they also examined literature available in the UK.
Digital tech is key to Labour’s Neighbourhood Health Service according to an independent report by The King’s Fund, commissioned by Nourish
