This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
‘Outdated' NHS IT systems face shake-up in Wales
Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething has announced that computer services in the NHS in Wales are to get a shake-up, along with £50 million funding to speed up changes.
After IT systems were criticised in a recent all-party assembly report, which also slammed the current slow pace of change and failures having a ‘negative impact’ on patients, Gething also revealed that a new chief digital officer for health and care will lead the project and that NHS Wales Informatics Services (NWIS) will be reformed.
The new chief digital officer, who will act as a digital ‘champion’, will set national standards for digital software and services, as well as advising on strategy.
The £50 million digital priorities investment fund will now look at improvements in five areas: transforming digital services for patients and public; transforming digital services for professionals; investing in data and intelligent information; modernising devices and moving to cloud services; and cyber-security and resilience.
Gething said: "I want everyone in Wales to have access to the highest quality digital health and care services, including professionals, the public and patients. I am determined that we maintain the pace of transformation, so that we use new digital technologies to benefit the public and patients in Wales, and to make our health and care services sustainable for future generations.”
Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: "Digital services are going to play an increasingly vital role in how patients receive services and the NHS operates. What we need to see is greater digital innovation across the service to allow the public to access the right care, at the right time, in the right place and in a way that makes the best use of the services finite resources."
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