Health Management and Policy Alert

Medical technology strategy

Department of Health and Social Care -
This policy paper outlines the government’s plan to support the UK medical technology sector to ensure the health and care system can reliably access safe, effective and innovative medical technologies to deliver the best outcomes for patients.

• Strategy
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Digital apps and reducing ethnic health inequalities : driving progress through digital, design, and organisational transformation

NHS Race & Health Observatory -
This report reviews how information gleaned from users of online health tools is used by health providers to analyse and improve patient health. An analysis of NHS data finds that digital and apps teams, employed by the NHS, face a number of barriers and limitations preventing insight and the linking of gaps across health services, conditions, digital usage and wider ethnic health inequalities. It calls for an explicit reform in how the NHS and NHS Blood and Transplant rebuild, collect and use data to guide policy decisions, particularly around ethnicity coding and health inequalities.

• Report
• NHS Race & Health Observatory - press release

Technology in social care: spotlight on the English policy landscape, 2019-2022

Centre for Care - 

This paper explores policy developments relevant to care and technologies between 2019 and 2022, analysing recent changes to funding structures, strategic priorities and government organisations.

• Working paper
• More detail

Connected: remote technology in mental health services

Centre for Mental Health - 

This briefing summarises evidence from six studies on the use of digital and telephone technology to deliver mental health services. It finds that using remote technology can improve access to mental health support for rural communities, disabled people or people needing a specialist service far from home. It has the potential to increase access and choice in mental health care. But it also risks exacerbating inequalities for people who are digitally excluded.

• Briefing
• More detail

Getting it right: the case for urgent investment in safe, modern technology and data sharing in the UK’s health services

British Medical Association - 

This report sets out they key areas where more needs to be done to ensure the recovery and resilience of UK health services and the safe delivery of care: infrastructure – hardware, software and connectivity; interoperability – standards and security; involvement – digital leadership, user involvement and skills development; inclusion - digital access and literacy for patients; and investment - prioritise existing funding, protect against budget cuts, increase funding.

• Report
• More detail

Telecare stakeholder action plan: analogue to digital switchover

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) -
The UK’s telecommunications providers are currently transitioning their telephone services from analogue to digital networks. Most are aiming to complete the switchover by 2025. This briefing outlines how the Department of Health and Social Care is working with the telecare and telecommunications sectors in England to help prepare for the transition from analogue to digital networks.

• Briefing

Digitally enabled collaborative work needs organisational capacity to succeed

The King's Fund - 

Working collaboratively with technology means making time and space to connect with colleagues. Toby Lindsay and Pritesh Mistry make the case for slowing down to think and talk through change.

• Blog

Scoping digital support for children and young people’s mental health

Oxford Academic Health Science Network -
To help increase capacity and achieve better outcomes in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) at a time of rising demand, the NHS has recognised it needs help to identify and harness the best of the ever-expanding array of digital innovations – from assessment through therapeutic interventions to ongoing support and prevention. This report identifies potential digital solutions to support NHS mental health services for children and young people. The audit of 24 digital tools and solutions covered current usage, interoperability, user experience and cost, and fit with NHS strategic priorities.

• Report
• Oxford Academic Health Science Network - news

A knotted pipeline: data-driven systems and inequalities in health and social care

Ada Lovelace Institute -
This report aims to describe the interplay between data and inequalities in the health and social care system across the UK. Acknowledging the potential for data-driven technologies to improve health and social care outcomes, it scrutinises the ‘pipelines’ of data that power health technologies, identifying trends, approaches or limitations in data and data use that might undermine the beneficial outcomes sought.

• Report
• Ada Lovelace Institute - publications

Interoperability is more than technology: the role of culture and leadership in joined-up care

The King's Fund -
Digital technologies can enable better collaboration between health and care partners, but what's needed to progress interoperability in an integrated care system? Our new report looks at the role of relationships and technology, and considers the widers enablers needed to truly join up services.

• Report
• The King's Fund - publications