WIREDGOV

At this year’s NHS ConfedExpo, Andreas Haimboeck-Tichy, Managing Director at Accenture and Chair of techUK’s Health and Social Care Council, chaired a panel examining the power of data to give decision-makers access to accurate real-time information to make informed, effective decisions.

The panel reflected on the power of data during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it allowed the NHS to:

• Identify those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus.
• Power vital research that helped discover new treatments that saved lives.
• Sustain the day-to-day response.

Other speakers included:

• Tim Ferris, National Director of Transformation - NHS England and NHS Improvement
• Bruno Bothelo, Deputy Chief Operating Officer & Director of Digital Operations - Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Ming Tang, Chief Data and Analytics Officer - NHS England & NHS Improvement
• Nicola Byrne, National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care - Office of the National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care
• Simon Madden, Joint Head of NHS Transformation Digital Policy Unit and Director of Data Policy - DHSC

Tim Ferris outlined his vision for data in the NHS, echoing the keynote speech given earlier by Chief Executive of NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, which heralded data as a “bridge to the future”. With broad agreement about the potential benefits and intended use of data, the challenge is now not ‘what’, but ‘how’.

Tim set out his belief that a significant obstacle in the current conversation was around people having “different mental models” of what data means. As such, Tim highlighted the need to progress data within four separate frameworks:

1. Data to deliver care
2. Data to enable care co-ordination and a population health approach
3. Data to enable planning that improves the delivery of healthcare
4. Data for research that goes further and faster

Panellists also focussed heavily on public trust, expressing confidence in the solutions proposed in the recent Data Strategy around both Trusted Research Environments (TREs) and Secure Data Environments (SDEs). These solutions will enable the NHS to offer privacy whilst still repeating the benefits of data.

Ming Tang discussed the Federated Data Platform and how it will allow the NHS to work as one organisation, making national data available to local systems at a high quality, and enabling Integrated Care Systems to do what is needed to meet the needs of their population.

This panel discussion followed the publication of the Data saves lives strategy. Reach techUK’s insight here.

To find out more about techUK’s work in health and social care, contact alex.lawrence@techuk.org.