HEE reviews progress of Topol Review recommendations

A review looking at the progress made on recommendations from the 2019 Topol Review has been released by Health Education England (HEE).

The Topol Review aimed to ensure the NHS’s position as a world leader in the use of digital technologies to benefit patients. It made a number of recommendations focusing on preparing the healthcare workforce to use innovative technologies for the digital future.

Over the four years since the review, there has been a number of initiatives implemented to help provide the learning tools needed in order for staff to meet the recommendations in the Topol Review.

In its report, HEE noted in particular:

• The establishment of education programmes in genomics; digital readiness; and digital, AI and robotics technologies (DART-Ed) to help develop workforce capability at all levels.
• Development of Health Education England’s knowledge and library services offer, which makes knowledge more accessible to healthcare professionals to support evidence-based decision-making, as well as helping to improve the digital and health literacy of patients and citizens.
• Growth in the use of the E-learning for Healthcare hub which currently has over two million users accessing 450+ e-learning programmes. Plus the launch of the Learning Hub, which enables the health and care workforce to contribute and share a variety of learning resources for colleagues to use.
• The use of the NHS Digital Academy to implement a range of programmes for NHS staff from the boardroom to develop specialist skills for use on the frontline.
• The promotion of extended reality technology in education, which provides learners with a new perspective on how they are trained and helps them develop the skills needed to provide the best care for patients.

Patrick Mitchell, director of innovation, digital and transformation at HEE, said: “We have made great strides over the past four years to develop and implement the recommendations in the Topol Review.

“The work that has gone in across the digital healthcare space has seen us make fantastic interventions into the genomics, knowledge and e-learning fields and we will continue to work to implement the recommendations in the Topol Review.”