Both NHS Digital and NHSX are to be incorporated into NHS England and Improvement, it was revealed today.
The news came in a letter to staff from NHS England and Improvement’s chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, in which she said ‘NHS Digital and NHSX will be incorporated into our organisation’.
The letter, which has been seen by Digital Health News, states that as part of NHS England and Improvement, ‘NHS Digital will become the CIO directorate and NHSX will evolve into the strategy function in the Transformation directorate’.
“As a single organisation, we can further accelerate the digital transformation of the NHS and redouble our efforts to address health inequalities,” the letter continues.
Pritchard’s letter says the announcement ‘follows the long-awaited review by Laura Wade-Gery’, who is the non-executive director of NHS England and NHS Improvement and chair of NHS Digital. The review recommended ‘a more joined up approach to digital transformation in the NHS national bodies’.
Pritchard praised NHSX and NHS Digital for their critical role throughout the pandemic delivering the NHS Covid Pass, Covid vaccine systems, virtual wards and many other innovations.
Going forward she said: “Our Transformation Directorate will continue to lead the digital transformation agenda for the NHS and social care at national and ICS level, alongside colleagues from Improvement and Innovation, Research and Life Sciences.”
In other major changes, Pritchard also announced that Health Education England is to merge with NHS England and Improvement.
More information about the changes were revealed in an email from NHSX’s CEO, Matthew Gould, who revealed that NHS Digital’s interim CEO, Simon Bolton, will ‘become the CIO of NHS England’ and will report to Tim Ferris (NHS England and Improvement’s director of transformation).
“Not all of us will be going into the strategy function. It will make sense for some teams to be in other parts of the Transformation Directorate, like the transformation teams or the CIO’s function,” Gould added.
There was also confirmation that the NHSX and NHS Digital brands ‘will both be retired, to emphasise the single, united approach to digital transformation that the NHS will now take, and the need for organisational clarity and simplicity in how it drives this agenda forward’.
Secretary of state for health and social care, Sajid Javid, said: “To ensure our record NHS investment makes a lasting impact, I am bringing workforce planning and digital transformation into the heart of the NHS.
“These reforms will support our recovery from Covid-19 and help us tackle waiting lists to give patients excellent care in years to come.
“I would like to pay tribute to all our colleagues at Health Education England, NHS Digital and NHSX for the enormous progress they have made, which we will continue to drive forward with their help.”
Former health secretary, Matt Hancock, ordered the major review into digital transformation in the NHS in July. Hancock called for a review into how NHSX, NHS Digital and NHS England and Improvement work together to drive digital transformation in the health service.
It was headed by Laura Wade-Gery to determine the critical capabilities and digital operating model needed across the three national bodies to drive the digital system transformation envisaged in the NHS Long Term Plan.
7 December 2021 @ 22:05
What could possibly go wrong with this plan. History keeps repeating itself with a massive cost to the NHS. I wonder how much has been spent on this already?
7 December 2021 @ 06:33
All Change, again, again, again…
Possibly a good thing. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to find out before its reorganised yet again – but probably not.
One of the many things that, whomsoever now has responsibility for ‘digital’, need to concentrate on, is making it MUCH SIMPLER for primary care practices and local IT and Web providers enable submission of patient related information into GP systems for forward processing (eg: GP patient registrations, repeat prescription requests, clinical surveys, etc – via MESH) – currently its a complete nightmare to even understand the systems or documentation – its just submitting simple form data over the web FFS.
29 November 2021 @ 16:25
Agree with Macbrains. My canon for years (unheeded) has been technology is an enabler, not and end it itself. What does it enable? Business (in its widest sense) processes, usually revised for BUSINESS reason and not i thrall to AI, Machine learning and other blue sky products. Without these processes, AI etc are solutions without a problem; bad thing,
23 November 2021 @ 11:16
So…what about Scotland and Wales? And how can you have a ‘joined up approach’ if you still have individual trusts operating their own idiosyncratic systems and procuring systems that can’t talk to one another?
23 November 2021 @ 13:52
Second that!
Consolidation of power, but with the same dilution of accountability – like most of the other comments too
22 November 2021 @ 16:25
Great news. NHSE should function as the overarching strategy umbrella
22 November 2021 @ 15:52
Concerning about Simon Bolton being the CIO of NHS England.
22 November 2021 @ 14:45
So is the section which says “Matthew Gould, who revealed that NHS Digital’s interim CEO, Simon Bolton, will ‘become the CIO of NHS England’ and will report to Tim Ferris (NHS England and Improvement’s director of transformation)” OMITTING the word Interim infant of ‘CIO of NHS England’ an accident OR is this to be read that the appointment is complete with no competition, from a post there were slotted into with no competition, from a programme they were slotted into with no competition by the person who wrote the report?
23 November 2021 @ 15:52
We are not going to make the progress we could until we fill leadership roles in digital health with people with a deep understanding of health data and processes and practical experience of implementing systems in health and care.
There is a long history of appointing otherwise highly capable people without such experience and them failing.
The problems we face in maximising the potential befits from digital technology are clinical, organisational and cultural not technical. We need leaders who understand these issue through experience of working with or in the health and care system
23 November 2021 @ 19:29
Spot on
24 November 2021 @ 07:13
Spot on.
This doesn’t solve the problem of the ‘coal board’ being too remote from the’ coal face’.
We need leadership to have this experience and we need to get better feedback from the workers.
24 November 2021 @ 09:51
With you there Kevin. I think the experience I want to see in senior leadership is that of having been fighting in the trenches where you and I both currently toil.
Those who have not tangled with the complexity of healthcare data and processes will not understand the challenge and will look for simple solutions that simple won’t work.
The core challenges we face are: that of modelling clinical data in a computable format and the creating an agile governance systems that ensures we all use these models in the same way but without stifling innovation.
These are hard problems, we can solve them but it will take time and resources. Recognising this is essential for success
24 November 2021 @ 12:23
Wholeheartedly agree. I would love to see people with skills, experience and passion given the leadership training they need to take on senior positions and succeed in them. Much more feasible than transplanting years’ of experience to someone with leadership skills but no clinical expertise or lived experience.
Maybe these people would make good mentors?!
26 November 2021 @ 15:50
“The problems we face in maximising the potential befits from digital technology are clinical, organisational and cultural not technical”
Could not agree more Ewan. Until it’s seen as “transformation supported by digital”, the NHS will continue to suffer from a protracted bout of Technical-Solutionitis.
24 November 2021 @ 11:31
Why?