Digital, Data and Technology
BCPC System Lead: Adam Thomas (DGFT)
Many of the BCPC programmes of work are reliant on Data, Digital and Technology as a key enabler for their successful delivery.
Analysis of the Black Country providers against the ‘What good looks like’ framework identifies varying levels of digital maturity and underpinning healthcare information infrastructures. Maintenance of varying technology estates drives a need to recruit and retain technical and analytical skills, specific to the individual Trust’s technology with limited transferability.
The four partners have taken the opportunity to review individual provider digital priorities, and noted:
- All providers have maximally committed their IT/digital resources to local pressing risk priorities already.
- Major projects exist for each provider. DGFT is replacing out of support infrastructure, WHT rolling out an EPR programme, RWT procuring and deploying a new EPR, and SWBH is delivering a new modern hospital. Consequently, there is no defined capacity for additional provider collaboration priorities.
- The Analytics/Information workforce in the Black Country provider setting is small, with the increasing volume of national data return demands and greater operational needs for analytics occupying current capacity.
- There is an inherent tension between immediate needs/risk mitigations of sovereign providers at place, and strategic investments in digital enablers at system level (ICB), with the Provider collaborative needs residing somewhere in-between these two states, and clarity on priorities, available investment and delivery resources is needed.
Pressed against resource constraints and competing/divergent directions of travel already committed to, there remains a positive level of harmony between providers on future strategic digital/data projects seeking central investment. Several priority areas have been identified as enablers for collaboration across the Black Country through the clinical workstreams and technology teams, which are:
- Accessibility
- Mobility
- Communication
- Better use of data
- Modernisation
A proposed workplan presented to both the Collaborative Executive and Collaborative Board in late 2022 was approved, identifying potential opportunities to progress strategic opportunities within these 5 identified workstreams.
Progress has been limited due in part to an ICB commissioned independent stock take of the Data, Digital and Technology landscape with the Black Country, but there have been some successes which include:
- All four partners now on an NHS Mail platform enhancing accessibility and communication, enabling single sign on solutions to be progressed.
- Approval for the implementation of iBabs, enabling convergence for all four partners on this corporate governance/meeting papers solution.
- Progress in developing a ‘proof of concept’ for testing of a PTL for the Black Country, which would enable real-time management of patient waiting lists across the four partner organisations.
- Review of PAS systems to align and converge on a solution over time.
Looking Ahead
Data, Digital and Technology remains a critical enabler of the BCPC programmes of work, and in particular, supporting our vision of working as a ‘Single hospital system, across multiple sites’.
We will be seeking to ‘double our efforts’ for 23-24 as we seek to deliver in the five priority areas, focusing on:
- Supporting the aspirations of the Clinical Improvement Programme
- Convergence on the use of technology across all four partners
- Supporting the workforce