Tech and data get hearing at first evidence session of Health and Social Care Committee

The importance of increased use of data and new technologies in health and care was stressed by NHS leaders at the first sitting of the Health and Care Bill Committee

NHS England, NHS Improvement, NHS Employers and Health Education England all welcomed the Bill.

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive, NHS England said: “The Bill is an opportunity to ‘bake in’ a data-driven way of working at a national and local level.”

She said she thought it was important that representatives of the entire health and care sector came around the broader ICS structure.

In addition, she:

• Welcomed the guiding principles relating to integrated care in the Bill.
• Thought that the best place for responsibility to lie relating big strategic investment decisions was at ICB level.
• Expected to see clinical leadership roles included on ICBs.
• Thought the Bill got the balance right regarding representation on ICBs, given they cannot have a representative of every profession.
• Said the NHS would want to consult regarding the appropriate number of boards at a local level.
• Warmly welcomed the flexibility in the Bill regarding ways of working that could be developed by local systems themselves.

On system interoperability, Dr Navina Evans, Chief Executive, Health Education England:

•  Welcomed the focus on systems working together, as well as with social care.
• Believed that barriers between organisations and systems should continue to be broken down as they have done during the pandemic.
• Believed that work to utilise tech in healthcare should continue.

Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive, NHS Employers welcomed the prominence the bill gave to the workforce.

He said there was a need to invest in the workforce’s long-term capacity, and that ICSs should promote a more proactive model of healthcare, compared to the reactive model historically used by UK healthcare.

Mark Cubbon, Chief Operating Officer, NHS Improvement, said he thought decision-making had to be as local as possible – which was why having ICB’s as the capital allocation decision-makers made sense.

He welcomed the move away from competition in the healthcare system to one of collaboration, as set out in the Bill.

Future Care Capital has been writing about the opportunities and challenges of funding tech for health and social care.