Digital features in King’s College Hospital’s yearly action plan

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has published its action plan for the year ahead, which includes a key theme of being digitally-enabled to support high quality care and accessibility of services.

The action plan sets out the trust’s aims and ambitions for the next year, and supports the efforts of its five-year strategy which was published in July 2021.

Since the launch of 2021’s Strong Roots, Global Reach strategy, the trust has already invested over £60m in new hospital buildings and equipment and started work on a new electronic health record for King’s College Hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital and Orpington Hospital.

Professor Clive Kay, chief executive at King’s College trust, said: “We have listened to patients, our staff, and key stakeholders, and we are committed to delivering what people have told us they care about. This includes everything from reducing our waiting lists to boosting recruitment into clinical trials; from investing in new buildings to reducing our impact on the environment; and reducing inequalities amongst local communities and within our own organisation.”

There are 20 key projects that form the trust’s action plan and which will shape King’s College’s focus for the next year. Through their delivery there will be an emphasis on partnership working, supporting staff and reducing waiting lists for planned operations.

These include a vision to transform outpatient services through the use of new digital tools and improved accessibility; delivering the next phase of the Apollo programme with the testing, configuration and training for the EPIC electronic health record; and launching the SC1 Innovation District to support home-grown innovations through the King’s Health Partners Medtech Joint Venture.

Furthermore, one of the actions is to ‘invest in digital and data innovation to improve patient care and deliver better services’ as well as growing the trust’s ‘innovation culture’.

The plan also follows in the footsteps of Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, who launched its Green Plan last week, and includes a promise to continue delivering its own Green Plan to reduce waste, limit the use of medical gases, and minimise travel.