HTN’s first Digital Playbook has arrived.
We’ll be sharing projects, case studies, learnings and solutions from providers and companies at the pinnacle of health tech and digital developments.
Available in print and online, our latest publication is intended to be used as a resource to inform and educate about the latest systems and products available to support organisations’ digital journeys, provide ideas, inspiration and insight, as well as showcasing the great work that goes on across the industry.
The playbook‘s content is as diverse as the sector and the stories we cover – focusing on a broad range of topics. These include: system efficiency and transformation, collaboration and communication, digital primary care, supporting ICS strategy, data and analysis, screening and diagnostics, remote monitoring and treatment, electronic patient records, and electronic prescribing and medicines administration.
To find out more about the tools and providers in each area, the solutions they can offer, and the issues they aim to fix, use our contents page to take you directly to your subject of choice.
Here, as part of our introduction and overview of the HTN Digital Playbook, we’ll be taking a brief but closer look at all nine sections and the processes and providers – to help organisations find fixes, get a taste of what’s on offer in the digital health sphere, and to use in the planning of digital approaches and strategies.
System Efficiency and Transformation – embracing change
Efficiency and transformation are two of health tech’s biggest buzzwords for 2021 – and they’re topical terms for a reason. As healthcare organisations look forward, and past the COVID-19 pandemic, the emphasis is set to be placed on planning, maximising capabilities and infrastructure, and on continuing to embrace digital change.
In this section, we feature a case study from Ingenica Solutions, a supply chain and procurement provider. As part of a collaboration with Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Ingenica illustrate innovative solutions for solving supply chain-related challenges such as overstocking, lack of availability, product recalls, wastage and best use of staff time.
For the transformation portion, we focus on CCube Solutions’ projects with the likes of North Bristol NHS Trust and North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, to look at processes of change such as paper records to digital records and on-site management to cloud management and storage.
Collaboration and Communication – cornerstones of digital transition
Collaboration and communication are arguably two of the key pillars of success in any industry – not least for healthcare providers during a pandemic and when attempting to navigate a new post-COVID world.
The rapid adoption of innovations has only increased the need for smoother communication for staff using new products and working in different ways and locations, and for working together, across sites and organisations, to test out the latest solutions.
We take a look at the supplier Infinity Health, which provides a platform to help healthcare staff coordinate and manage their workload. Focusing on problems such as paper notes, the need for patient handover meetings and multiple messages and calls to clearly relay information, Infinity Health presents a suite of solutions such as real-time notifications and data collection.
Our second showcase in this section is Ideal Health explains how it tackles communication challenges by engraining a collaborative approach, encouraging in-house teams to take ownership and to think beyond go-live.
Digital Primary Care – first point of contact
While many of the health tech headlines have focused on eye-catching implementations in secondary care settings, GP practices across the UK have also continued to carry the digital torch to transform and enhance their services during demanding times.
This part of the playbook celebrates projects in primary care that have enabled clinicians to provide improved patient experiences and outcomes – be it CCube Solutions’ digitisation of Lloyd George records, and mapping technology to support GP home visits.
Supporting ICS Digital Strategy – thinking of future landscapes
The roll-out of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) across England calls for more joined-up thinking. But some suppliers and providers are already thinking outside of the box and predicting the challenges that ICS changes might bring.
This section brings into focus areas that organisations may want to start thinking about, in terms of interoperability and personalised healthcare pathways that follow patients, wherever they may be. For this topic, we talked to specialists Healthcare Gateways to find out how they address interoperability, and how Healthcare Communications uses an omnichannel approach to unify multiple stages of patient care journeys.
We also present digital healthcare consultancy, The Clarity Practice, to find out about how they help guide organisations through change with approaches like mentorships, framework development and understanding the impacts of new national policies.
In this jam-packed chapter, the technology and software provider InterSystems also explains how its solutions can help improve digital maturity – while still recognising that transformation is never ‘one-size-fits-all’.
Data and Analysis – the bigger picture
Use of data, the demand for quality, structured data and a push to rely on data analysis to inform health policy and research, has been another success story across governmental, clinical and academic work across the past year.
It’s reasonable to expect a greater need going forward, as organisations begin to make the best of the wealth of information they can access. So we’ve used our dedicated section to shine a light on two companies – InterSystems and Draper & Dash – and how their projects have helped the NHS in areas such as data-driven management, innovation and clinical decision-making support, to improve patient outcomes and maximise resources.
Screening and Diagnostics – next generation
Enhancing patient screening and diagnostics through digital innovations and artificial intelligence is another area that has built momentum in health tech, recently. Automated support to help clinicians make diagnoses, simplify workflows, speed up results and and improve the screening of patients is a growing area, so we’ve highlighted some of the providers available.
First up, Clinisys Group explains how it supplies joined-up solutions across the whole patient journey, while supporting health professionals to test, diagnose and treat patients via integrated, end-to-end solutions, for trusts and pathology networks across the UK.
Remote Monitoring and Treatment – healthcare anywhere
Spirit Digital, InterSystems and Helicon Health are among the companies that present their projects in the remote monitoring and remote treatment chapter of our playbook – following a year when their use was accelerated beyond expectation.
Remote technology played a huge part in the response to COVID-19, and in keeping a whole spectrum of patients safely at home while still receiving vital treatment. Here, we find out about some of those innovations and adoptions, from vital signs measurement, long-term condition care to accessible records and virtual appointments.
Electronic Patient Records – at the touch of a button
Electronic patient records (EPRs) are some of the most popular articles among the news and stories we report on at HTN. Reacting to the huge interest in this area, as trusts and organisations make their choices and implementations, we take a look at some of the options out there – from Ideal Health to InterSystems and Servelec.
Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration – a new direction
Here we shift the focus onto electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA), as more and more trusts move to paperless prescribing for their hospitals, pharmacies and other care settings. As our main example, we turn the microscope onto InterSystems’ popular TrakCare system, which collates patient data and decision-support to a range of electronic prescribing and medicines dispensing features.
View the HTN Digital Playbook here.
