In brief
- As a society, we are making increasing use of the internet and its related technologies to organise our shopping, travel, banking, entertainment and much more. But the National Health Service has been relatively slow to adopt these consumer-facing technologies, despite – and perhaps in part because of – the National Programme for IT with its focus on systems internal to the NHS.
- The NHS Next Stage Review in 2007 emphasised the importance of information technology (IT) in the NHS, and highlighted the role that it could play in improving health outcomes. The final report, High Quality Care For All, discussed ‘NHS reluctance’ to adopt new technologies and suggested ways in which better use could be made of IT.
- Technology could support the delivery of health care in a number of areas:
- providing and storing information and advice
- administration and transactions – eg, making appointments
- diagnosis – making diagnostic technology available to the consumer
- monitoring – particularly helpful in an ageing population
- relationships – improving communication between the patient, carers and professionals.
- As part of our Technology in the NHS project, we set out to identify what determines whether and how technology is adopted in the NHS, and how barriers to adoption and uptake could be overcome.
- A number of factors influence decisions to adopt technology in the NHS, some internal and some external:
- how effectively suppliers can make their case and engage with the NHS
- how easy it is to agree standards
- consumers’ attitudes – their understanding of the issues but also their concerns
- the direction offered by regional and national government
- how easy it is to share information about new technologies and to make decisions about purchase.
- We identified four broad models for the adoption of technology in the health service, reflecting the levels at which decisions can be taken on the use of technology. Our research highlighted the barriers that can hinder progress in each of these models.
- The final report from the project – Technology in the NHS – was published in 2008. It offers examples of health care technologies and how they could improve patient care. The report also makes a number of recommendations for how we might achieve an ‘ideal scenario’ under which the potential of technology is fully realised in helping to meet the objectives of the NHS. It suggests that it will need the active involvement of all those in the system – consumers, clinicians, local and regional management, regulators, the Department of Health and the technology industry.
