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Rob Blay, Chair of techUK's Health and Social Care Council, outlines the plans for the Programme.

What are techUK’s plans for the Health and Social Care Programme for 2017? Rob Blay, Chair of the Health and Social Care Council and CEO of JAC, provided an overview of these plans and focus areas at a session during e-Health Week on 4 May 2017. techUK and NHS Digital launched a strategic partnership on 3 May which Rob said provides a refreshing opportunity for collaboration between industry and the NHS. Along with this partnership, much of the focus for the year is driven by the Paperless2020 agenda with a focus on three priority areas: Capitalising on Digital Citizen Engagement, Safe and Effective Data Sharing, and Sustainability and Transformation.

The Capitalising on Digital Citizen Engagement working group, led by Pooven Maduramuthu, Vice President, Health Sales, Atos, aims for techUK and its members to play a strong role in increasing access to digital technology for the benefit of patients, and to improve health and care efficiency. Although there will always be a need for face-to-face interaction between citizens and healthcare professionals, there are many opportunities to digitise the healthcare sector further to streamline the process and reduce some dependency on face-to-face engagement. Here, the focus areas are telephone and online triage, patient digital access, and devices, wearables, and apps.

Paul Cooper, Non-executive Director IMS Maxims and Vice Chair of techUK’s Health and Social Care Council, leads the Safe and Effective Data Sharing working group which aims for techUK to play a leading role in promoting safe and effective data sharing across health and social care. The working group will build on the Interoperability Charter and work with INTEROPen to encourage the movement of data. This group will also play a role in educating techUK’s members and other suppliers on the General Data Protection Regulation and data sharing, and will share best practice on cyber security.

The Sustainability and Transformation working group, led by Ali Rogan, External Affairs Adviser, Tunstall, and Vice Chair of techUK’s Health and Social Care Council, aims to ensure that technology is considered as an essential component in the planning and delivery of the Next Steps in the Five Year Forward View which is now being driven by local Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs). The key areas of activity include developing an awareness of what good looks like, investigating how technology can ensure integration across health and social care, and technology as an enabler to deliver on STP priorities.

The introduction to techUK’s Health and Social Care Programme was followed by a panel discussion on the future of interoperability.

techUK and INTEROPen held a joint session at e-Health Week to discuss techUK’s priorities for the Health and Social Care Programme for 2017 and the future of interoperability. This is the first of two articles and summarises techUK’s priorities for the Health and Social Care Programme.