Making IT Work - Wachter report

Making IT Work: Harnessing the power of health information technology to improve care in England
National Advisory Group on Health Information Technology in England, chaired by Professor Robert Wachter, 7  September 2016

• An examination of the ambition for the NHS https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/09/digital-revolution/to achieve a paperless NHS by 2020.
• The report timelines indicate an expectation that there should be national interoperability by 2022, and digitisation should be complete by 2023 (see Appendix 3)
• "Getting it right requires a new approach, one that may appear paradoxical yet is ultimately obvious: digitising effectively is not simply about the technology, it is mostly about the people."
• "The purpose is to radically improve the chances that important information will be available when and where it is needed."
• "Getting it right requires a new approach, one that may appear paradoxical yet is ultimately obvious: digitising effectively is not simply about the technology, it is mostly about the people. We have emphasised that approach in this report."
• Some of these recommendations are being implemented through 12 "digital Revolution" trail blazers. See NHS En;gland News
• The report presents 10 overall findings and principles, and 10 implementation recommendations.
• Principles
1. Digitise for the correct reasons
2. It is better to get digitisation right than to do it quickly
3. ‘Return on investment’ from digitisation is not just financial
4. When it comes to centralisation, the NHS should learn, but not over-learn, the lessons of NPfIT
5. Interoperability should be built in from the start
6. While privacy is very important, so too is data sharing
7. Health IT Systems must embrace user-centered design
8. Going live with a health IT system is the beginning, not the end
9. A successful digital strategy must be multifaceted, and requires workforce development
10.  Health IT entails both technical and adaptive change
• Recommendations
1. Carry out a thoughtful long-term national engagement strategy
2. Appoint and give appropriate authority to a national chief clinical information officer (CCIO)
3. Develop a workforce of trained clinician-informaticists at the trusts, and give them apppropriate resources and authority
4. Strengthen and grow the CCIO field, others trained in clinical care and informatics, and health IT professionals more generally
5. Allocate the new national funding to help trusts go digital and achieve maximum benefit from digitisation
6. While some trusts may need time to prepare to go digital, all trusts should be largely digitised by 2023
7. Link national funding to a viable local implementation/improvement plan
8. Organise local/regional learning networks to support implementation and improvement
9. Ensure interoperability as a core characteristic of the NHS digital ecosystem – to promote clinical care, innovation, and research
10.  A robust independent evaluation of the programme should be supported and acted upon
• Appendix C: Summary of timetable for deliverables related to key recommendations