Sussex Health and Care has shared an update on the integrated care system’s work with digital technology, one year after the publication of their Improving Lives Together strategy which pledged to improve the use of digital technology and information to help join up services and support access to advice and care.
Over the past year, the ICS shares how it has launched three Digital Centres of Excellence for innovation, infrastructure and data/intelligence, along with agreeing a system-wide digital and data charter which all partners have signed up to.
A Sussex-wide digital inclusion framework has been developed in collaboration with NHS Sussex, the University of Sussex and Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex, with the intention of examining known barriers and enablers to digital inclusion; and a digital and data people’s panel has been established with the intent of helping to reduce inequalities of digital access within the ICS population.
Additionally, Sussex Health and Care reports that more than 400,000 people in Sussex are using the NHS App each month to request medication or check records, and there has also reportedly been an increase in the number of patients using remote monitoring to note their blood pressure monitoring results.
“This work will continue this year as we continue to further enhance systems to support patients to have greater control over their health and care, make the most of technology in providing care, and explore new advances and opportunities,” the ICS states.
HTN explored the ICS’s Improving Lives Together strategy here, focusing on the system’s use of digital, data and tech.
Last year we also interviewed Sussex’s transformation, innovation and digital officer Lisa Emery, on the strategy, the ICS’s achievements in digital and data, and their hopes for the future.
In recent news from the region, we shared how Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust awarded a five-year contract for a dental patient management software service; and how the same trust opened early market engagement for the procurement of digital tech for the clinical management of lower back pain.
