Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has announced the launch of its five-year strategy, which recognises the role of new and emerging digital technologies such as artificial and robotics.
With the trust emphasising its commitment to delivering “safe, accessible and effective care that is personalised and co-designed with patients”, one of the five-year objectives set out in the plan focuses on enabling transformation by “optimising existing digital tools and adopting proven new technologies including AI and robotics, whilst reducing digital exclusion”.
Under the shorter one-year objectives, the trust intends to complete the implementation of their £7 million Transformation and Innovation Fund and the implementation of their radiology information system and picture archiving and communication system. They will also carry out a post-implementation review of their laboratory information management system service for South West London pathology, and support the integrated care board to implement a new operating model for GP IT.
Improving the trust’s use of data to “identify and monitor inequalities and evaluate interventions” is also included in the five-year objectives, as part of the aim to improve health & reduce inequalities. This will form part of the trust’s commitment to meeting the needs of the population, “focussing on preventing ill-health, promoting independence and enabling equity in access and outcomes”.
Earlier this year, our feature series exploring digital and data across the ICS regions revealed some of the digital priorities, plans and projects from South West London ICS, of which Croydon Health Services NHS Trust is a part. We highlighted how the the ICS makes a commitment to supporting their services and systems to level up their digital capabilities and maturity as a priority, with the aim of ensuring that all partners have a core level of infrastructure, digitisation and skills. As well as developing system-wide plans and connecting health and care systems and records across the region, the ICS emphasises how it is “developing workforce plans to support the skilling up of health and care staff across South West London to maximise the opportunities of digital solutions”.
Looking at the role of digital and data in other strategies, we recently explored ICS strategies from Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Sussex, which highlighted the expected role of digital and data over the next five years in supporting wider objectives of high quality, sustainable and preventative care. Supporting innovation and the introduction of emerging technologies was also a feature of these ICS plans, as was upskilling the workforce and promoting digital skills.
To read Croydon Health’s strategy in full, please click here.
