UK Secretary of Health and Social Care Wes Streeting has placed data at the heart of the government’s plan to fix the National Health Service (NHS) which he says is at its “worst crisis in history”.
Technology is central to Streeting’s strategy, as the Government looks to digitalise and digitise a healthcare system that, in some providers, has become severely outdated. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously pledged to move “from an analogue to a digital NHS”, following the Lord Darzi review that highlighted the NHS’s critical state.
“Given the state of some of the technology in the NHS at the moment, there are lots of staff who would be grateful if their machines turned on quickly, or if they didn't have to enter seven passwords to treat one patient sat in front of them,” Streeting said in a session at the annual Jefferies London Healthcare Conference.
“Analogue to digital – even that feels out of date. It should probably be more analogue to AI,” the health secretary quipped. “With the potential of genomics, AI, machine learning and data in the not-too-distant future, we can change the paradigm of healthcare in this country.”
Streeting doubled down on the power of data, identifying its collective power as an important cornerstone onto which the modernisation of the NHS can be built. He explained that over time the NHS has become fragmented, and that integration of data can rebuild isolated systems, contributing to efficient healthcare, along with enabling groundbreaking science and innovative technology.
The government introduced a new bill in October containing new data laws that it says will boost the UK economy by £10bn. Within this was legislation that ensures healthcare information – such as patients’ pre-existing conditions, appointments, and tests – can easily be accessed in real-time across all NHS trusts, GP surgeries and ambulance services, regardless of the IT system being used in each location.
The NHS App is also set to benefit from initiatives – Streeting says the Government has “bigger ambitions for growth”. More than 34 million people in England are registered on the app, which offers a variety of features to empower patients. In September, a new prescription tracking feature was trialled in another move to streamline patient treatment.
Streeting said his task is to unlock the untapped potential of the single-payer system so that “citizens view their data in the same way they view their taxes.”
He said: “The ability to use data at a population will enable us to do not just the breakthroughs in science and technology, but also [have] more efficient use of resources, more equitable distribution of health and care services, and the ability to really zone in on the health inequalities that apply to our society.”
