Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has unveiled plans for a new one-stop-shop NHS website that will allow patients to seek help for less serious health problems online, as part of a package of measures created to improve digital services.
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Patients will be able to diagnose their own ailments using smartphones under plans for a one-stop NHS website.
Patients will be able to compare how well their local health service performs against others in key areas including cancer, dementia, diabetes, mental health, learning disabilities and maternity care.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has set out aims to pioneer new technology services and improve digital skills across the NHS by establishing 12 “global exemplar sites”, as well as expanding NHS 111 functions and rebranding the organisation’s “Choices” site.
It would allow patients to get tailored advice or a call-back from a health care professional, the Department of Health has said.
Announcements were also made around a new tranche of online services such as GP registration, record access and health advice availability that will be made available by the end of 2017, with a focus on mobile and tablet device functionality in particular.
The idea is to eventually let people register with a GP and access past healthcare records online as well, with some or all of these parts possibly in place by the end of next year – barring the usual massive delays we might expect when the United Kingdom tries to do anything more complicated with IT than print out a few forms.
Professor Robert Wachter, who was commissioned by the DoH to look in to the approach to the implementation of IT in healthcare in England, made a series of recommendations.
“In addition, the range of sites chosen highlight that spectrum of different technological solutions types that are viable within the NHS and which will have flow on effects for the wider NHS through lessons that will be learnt within the centres”. However, for it to continue to provide a high quality and accessible service for staff and patients it simply must digitise.
He added that this means “on one hand giving pioneering NHS organisations the financial backing to unleash their full potential”, while also making sure that “we can build a digitally-confident workforce across the whole NHS”.
“We are going to make very big moves in the next 12 months into apps and wearables”, said Mr Hunt.
Mr Hunt outlined plans to introduce a new academy to train NHS staff in digital skills.
In the past former health leaders were heavily criticised over a failed multi-billion pound IT system.
“We live in the age of the smartphone, and we want the NHS to reflect that.”
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“Digital innovations will make our services more efficient, save money and help the NHS to deliver its ambitious programme of change”.
