Speech: 8 March 2012, Andrew Lansley, E-Health Insider launch of Chief Clinical Information Officers Network
Andrew Lansley talks at the launch of the network of Chief Clinical Information Officers.
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Thanks Richard [Thompson, President].
I鈥檓 very glad to be here today to help launch the network of Chief Clinical Information Officers.
I was at the Smoking and Health Conference on Tuesday, so it鈥檚 my second visit this week - just one indication of the impact and the importance of professional work being done by the RCP.
I鈥檓 particularly glad to be able to applaud the progress of the campaign.
It鈥檚 great to see growing recognition for clinicians innovating with imagination and creativity.
My vision is of a health service increasingly led by clinicians, with patients and shared decision-making at its heart.
Clinical leaders respond positively to evidence and data.
As we increasingly harness the power of information, I can see that clinical leadership will use information to transform patient care in the NHS.
I鈥檝e always been committed to putting doctors, nurses and other clinicians in charge. Freed from the burden of bureaucracy and top-down micro-management to focus on the best results for their patients.
At the front-line of care; in consultation rooms, wards and operating theatres, nobody is better placed to know how to meet their patients鈥� needs. 皇冠体育appse patient-focused insights are critical when innovating in the NHS to improve patient care.
Making meaningful, up to date information available to patients and clinicians, and making sure it can be shared securely, offers a tremendous prize: consistently high quality, safe, efficient care.
This is our vision for the Information Revolution.
I know many of you contributed to our consultation and are eagerly anticipating its launch.
I鈥檇 like to thank you all for your many valuable insights and ideas. It鈥檚 important to get it right.
Because, as we all know, introducing change as crucial, as fundamental to the future of the NHS as this, is far from easy.
National Progamme for IT
If there鈥檚 one thing we鈥檝e learned from the National Programme for IT, it鈥檚 that top-down edicts from Whitehall do not work.
皇冠体育app programme often boasted about its size.
皇冠体育app centre, mammoth and remote, dominating a marginalised local NHS.
Not recognising that it must meet users鈥� needs and would fail to deliver if it didn鈥檛 do so.
Imposing national systems that couldn鈥檛 adapt to local circumstances, the programme shackled the health service with rigid, expensive IT contacts.
Contracts which forced doctors and nurses to bend over backwards to fit in with the needs of systems rather than the other way round.
皇冠体育app result? I.T. became the enemy.
Innovation was stifled, enthusiasm sapped and real progress delayed.
Now, the NHS has benefitted from some elements of the National Programme which have become part of everyday business and are continuing.
- 皇冠体育app Spine.
- Digital x-rays.
- A secure broadband network.
- 皇冠体育app Electronic Prescription Service.
- 皇冠体育app Summary Care Record.
- Choose and Book.
皇冠体育appse will stay.
In particular, we鈥檝e made renewed progress with the Summary Care Record.
We know we can move these services forward in the future; and there is no logic in cancelling them.
But the programme overall hasn鈥檛 reaped anything like the rewards you鈥檇 expect for the time and money invested.
And it鈥檚 been spectacularly overtaken by the explosion in information and technology which is re-shaping the world beyond the NHS.
So, you have the bizarre parallel life of a consultant who uses her smartphone to video chat with colleagues and friends across the world, but who spends weeks waiting for patient information sent to her by post.
Or the GP whose three-year-old plays confidently with his iPad, but whose patients can only make appointments by phone.
But, if we鈥檙e going to close that gap, we have to accept that change no longer happens just because someone on high decrees it.
Just recently, we ran a competition to find the best health apps. We got a fantastic response - 500 entries and over twelve and a half thousand votes and comments online.
I was at an event showcasing the most popular entries. Apps to track blood pressure, to manage long-term conditions like diabetes, to find NHS services.
It was so encouraging to see patients taking control; benefiting from smartphone technology they use every day.
Doing it not because someone like me told them to, but because it鈥檚 useful, convenient and makes their lives easier.
Learning from the revolution that鈥檚 happening all around us, it鈥檚 right we make the leap and shift power decisively from the centre to the front line NHS.
So clinicians are in the driving seat, supported by national systems and services only when there鈥檚 a single, clear need across the health service.
Trusting those closest to the front line to make decisions they know not in theory, but in practice, will make their job easier and services better for patients.
We鈥檙e already making headway on this. By devolving power, we鈥檙e on course to make big savings on the IT contracts we inherited from the last Government.
Contracts which are not fit for purpose in a rapidly changing NHS.
We鈥檙e in talks about with our largest supplier, the Computer Sciences Corporation, about a new deal.
A deal which gives trusts in the North, Midlands and East freedom to choose which systems they use.
Our overriding priority in this is to maximise value for money and be open about costs and benefits.
Around 拢1.8bn in overall savings will be secured across the system.
I鈥檓 hopeful we鈥檒l achieve an outcome that will be good for patients, good for the clinicians and good for taxpayers.
After years of waste and delay, this is an incredible breakthrough that will free up clinicians in the NHS to exercise control and flexibility.
Control over what systems they use and develop.
Over the pace of change, so it鈥檚 manageable for staff and patients.
And over how they can build on the best of what they鈥檝e already got, so systems can be connected rather than ripped out for the sake of it.
Clinical Leadership
But new technology alone isn鈥檛 enough.
One of the National Programme鈥檚 biggest flaws, from the start, was a lack of clinical input. How can you impose systems from the centre if you don鈥檛 fully involve the people who鈥檒l be using them?
皇冠体育app simple, obvious answer is: you can鈥檛.
People have to be persuaded there鈥檚 a good reason to change familiar ways of working, to challenge ingrained habits and attitudes.
鈥淲ill it be good for my patients?鈥� is ultimately the only question most clinicians, rightly, care about.
That鈥檚 been the unswerving focus for the pioneers highlighted by your campaign.
Pioneers such as Dr Paul Altmann, from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, who is here today.
His introduction of contactless smartcards in A&E has made it easier for doctors and nurses working under the greatest pressure to deliver quicker, safer care.
Before, it was taking too long for staff to manually log in and out of terminals as they moved around the fast-changing A&E environment.
Now, terminals can recognise a clinician鈥檚 smartcard wirelessly, meaning they can easily and securely resume their work wherever they are.
A simple, yet stunningly effective solution.
皇冠体育app new system works so well because it was driven not by an idea that looked good on paper to managers or the IT department, but by demand from the A&E clinicians themselves.
It鈥檚 a similar story with GPs in the North East.
皇冠体育appy鈥檝e developed clinical dashboards which display real-time information from a variety of sources at a glance.
皇冠体育appse allow doctors to easily view the latest trends and make comparisons. 皇冠体育appy provide insights into important issues such as a patient鈥檚 risk of readmission to hospital and prescribing spend against budget.
Just the sort of powerful intelligence which will be invaluable as clinicians increasingly commission and control care.
In Bolton, where similar dashboards have been piloted, there鈥檚 been a 20 per cent drop in avoidable hospital admissions.
What鈥檚 telling, for me, is that these trailblazers have forged ahead, not because they were told to, but because they wanted to.
皇冠体育appy鈥檝e come up with new, better ways of working based on first-hand evidence and experience.
皇冠体育appy鈥檝e collaborated with their clinical colleagues to understand the challenges and take ownership of the issues.
And they鈥檝e got senior support within their organisations.
How much more effective is this than a one-size-fits-all approach?
How much more confidence does this give suppliers when designing new products and services?
How much more compelling as an example to clinicians in other parts of the country?
皇冠体育appy deserve our encouragement to innovate, to share evidence of what works - and what doesn鈥檛.
A more flexible, agile future for NHS IT will support this.
A future where systems can talk to each other so information can be exchanged safely and reliably between organisations.
Where GPs, hospitals and other NHS providers are not told what systems to buy, but are intelligent customers in a market which no longer excludes small and medium-sized suppliers.
And where national standards are championed where they鈥檙e needed to underpin local innovation and choice.
皇冠体育app NHS Commissioning Board will lead on much of this work.
It will make sure the needs of patients and clinicians, rather than technology, drive future strategy and that services across the NHS are joined up.
This work includes:
鈥⒙犅� 聽Commissioning and sponsoring national infrastructure, applications and services.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Finding the right levers to push the adoption of NHS information and IT strategies.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Overseeing information standards and information governance.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Identifying and highlighting best practice.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Promoting informatics leadership and professional development.
皇冠体育app Board will be supported by a leaner delivery organisation replacing NHS Connecting for Health.
This will:
鈥⒙犅� 聽Approve and accredit national and local systems against technical and clinical standards set by the Board so systems can talk to each other.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Manage and monitor the day to day delivery and performance of key national systems and services such as the Spine.
鈥⒙犅� 聽Support the delivery of information standards and information governance processes.
We鈥檙e currently looking at where these delivery functions will sit, with the Information Centre as an option to house some or all of this work. We will make more progress on the detail over the coming months.
We鈥檙e also developing partnerships with Intellect, the NHS Confederation and the British Computer Society to stimulate a varied, vibrant market of suppliers.
On the demand side, clinicians need relevant information to become more informed customers and to exercise genuine choice.
Our work with E-Health Insider, to provide detailed data about IT implementations across the NHS, is an important tool to help them draw on the experience of others before they invest in new systems and services.
Conclusion
All of this lays the groundwork for the crucial shift in culture that the Future Forum has rightly emphasised needs to happen to make the information revolution a reality.
Information must be seen as the heartbeat of today鈥檚 NHS as it is in the wider world around us.
皇冠体育app good use of information must be seen not as an optional extra or a luxury, but as a health service in its own right.
As we鈥檝e seen so powerfully with the National Programme, political pressure alone, however well-meaning, just cannot make this happen.
皇冠体育app role of Government should be to support clinicians to innovate, not presume to tell them how.
Greater transparency; ensuring that precious insights and learning are tapped, that data on how services are working is freely shared, that patient feedback shapes services, is fundamental to this support.
皇冠体育app NHS boasts a wealth of world-beating talent, ideas and new thinking. 皇冠体育app challenge is to ensure excellence is no longer isolated, but celebrated and harnessed throughout the health service.
I鈥檓 on your side.
To provide support where it鈥檚 needed at a national level鈥�
To trust front-line clinicians to lead locally鈥�
To act together in the best interests of patients.
Thank you