We heard from Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS, who shared their main digital priorities around the system’s refreshed digital and data strategy, and examples of current digital projects, including its digital medication initiative.

Funded by NHS England Digital Transformation Social Care Fund, the digital medication initiative is aimed at improving medication adherence and reducing errors using “technology-enabled smart medication devices” which factors into a broader effort to digitise social care and enhance the quality of care provided to residents. The project involves the implementation of the Medy Box, a smart medication device designed to manage medication schedules for people in receipt of domiciliary care and reduce the need for in-person care visits. The evaluation plan for this initiative, according to the ICS, has been developed in collaboration with Lancaster University, and “focuses on assessing the efficacy and safety of these smart medication devices”.

The ICS shared that since its digital and data strategy was refreshed, the four acute provider trusts have consolidated their corporate functions into a single digital delivery vehicle, “OneLSC”, adding: “The digital and data function within comprises approximately 1000 people and as such provides us with a unique opportunity to transform health and care in a truly collaborative way, supporting delivery of our fourth strategic priority.” The ICS is working toward the procurement of a single system-wide EPR, and is looking to optimise its shared care record, which it shares has been “viewed over 800,000 times a month by 30,000 clinical users across all 200 general practices, our five trusts and social care and will also be part of a national pilot to open access to Greater Manchester health services”.

Elsewhere, the ICS notes that its in-house developed single patient engagement portal continues to be developed and deployed across provider trusts, “giving patients the opportunity to view and re-schedule appointments, complete online forms and questionnaires, while providing multi-media information”. This has been a “key enabler for waiting list validation and patient-initiated follow-up”, it continues, “and has contributed to a significant reduction in DNA rates”. Further capabilities including remote pre-operative assessment and support for Waiting Well will be rolled out “while we offer the tool to patients from an expanding number of pathways in 2025/26”, it shares.

The ICS also shared the continued rollout of Nobi Smart Lamps in approximately 80 care settings and two hospital trusts. The lamps are designed to monitor falls and provide immediate alerts to caregivers, and in care homes where the lamps have been installed, the system reports a reduction in fall incidents by up to 80 percent, and an improvement in response times by 90 percent.

Looking to the future, Lancashire and South Cumbria highlights its larger vision to “revolutionise social care”, moving from analogue to digital and empowering care providers with “cutting-edge digital tools and technologies” to ensure high quality care and enhance the safety and well-being of residents. “The success of these initiatives,” it states, “relies on collaboration between various stakeholders, including care providers, local authorities, and academic partners. Together, we are committed to creating a future where technology plays a pivotal role in delivering exceptional care and improving the lives of those we serve.”

Finally, the ICS highlights collaborative work on the Secure Data Environment, which it says is “already bringing data together and making it available for analysis in real or near-real time”. Collectively, via integration with the NW SDE, “we can support combined research across the NW population of up to 7.4 million people”, it continues, whilst “integration with similar architecture built by the councils will also support wider population insights”. The system shares hopes for the solution to become “a clinically-led centre for AI supporting system validation and generation and regulation of new tools”.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust also shared with HTN some insight into the trust’s current work and future priorities for digital, stating: “We believe our biggest challenge (opportunity) to be how we use technology to reduce the administrative burden on staff. As we continue to grapple with the productivity challenge across the NHS there is much more we can do to ensure our digital systems are slick, easy to use, simplified, staff have excellent digital skills and then overlay with the assistive technologies and AI.” A couple of recent examples, the trust highlighted, are around its crisis lines, helping to prioritise calls and improve patient experience; and its implementation of a digital tool for e-rostering.

Looking ahead, the trust notes data programmes such as the M-RIC, Federated Data Platform, and NW-TRE, adding: “We are starting to see the data revolution scale, with tangible products and benefits to front line staff. We are particularly proud to host the MH Incubator programme for the national FDP with two products in development.”

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust points to “a significant digital and data-enabled transformation programme underway, to deliver services that work for patients and staff including managing the basics, optimising systems, and transforming services”. CDIO Matt Gardner, said to HTN: “We’re putting patient engagement first, and making ‘IT’ work for staff. Working with colleagues ensures our plans meet their needs. We’re currently focusing on delivering technology that will improve how our staff order, request and view lab results, how we use referral systems and digital dictation to streamline workflows, and how we adopt advanced data capabilities to help us plan and manage our services. We’re also collaborating with our partners on the use of digital and data to deliver excellence in neuroscience, and for patients who are under the care of multiple healthcare providers, as well as working with partners on an electronic patient record for Liverpool.”

Current projects and recent successes include the implementation of an online system, which The Walton Centre has been using since March 2024, allowing the trust to manage appointments and for patients to reschedule appointments. Since this went live, the trust notes that DNAs have decreased from 11 percent to 6 percent. “The app also shows outpatient letters, and we plan for clinic letters to follow in due course,” the trust continues. It also notes work is underway on an online system to allow patients to complete a clinical screening questionnaire online, rather than having to come into the hospital ahead of planned surgery; single sign-on; upgrades to connectivity and infrastructure; and new ward boards.

“We are committed to improving our in-house and external digital systems to help us deliver outstanding care,” the trust states. “Most recently we upgraded our digital sepsis tools to help us improve identification and treatment of the sickest sepsis patients. Next, we’ll be focusing on the eP2 patient timeline, enabling staff to access other clinical systems whilst in eP2, and enhanced search functionality. We’ve also been working on a project to digitise all our current paper case notes, to ensure all records are viewable digitally, improving patient experience, clinical decision making and compliance.”

The future for digital healthcare in the region, the trust predicts, “will be one that is underpinned by collaboration. We’re likely to see more technology and services adopted consistently across the geography that leverages our size and scale to deliver outcomes for the local population health. In Liverpool we have an ambitious programme of work underway to do exactly that, with The Walton Centre having a driving role in it. Examples will include working with partners on referral management systems to better connect disparate parts of health and care, and a drive towards converging on fewer clinical platforms to deliver a consistent at scale electronic patient record.”

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust listed its main digital priorities as delivering on digital strategy, getting core infrastructure ready for a standardised digital patient record provision through the delivery of an NCA wide electronic patient record, working across clinical colleagues to support productivity improvements using digital solutions, and strengthening its ability to operate as “a data driven organisation”. Current projects include a “major upgrade to core wifi provision across our four hospitals with plans to expand this to our community sites”, a “theatres excellence programme that will be supported through digital system optimisation”, and continued work on enhancing access to appointments via the NHS app and the use of text reminders for patients.

For the future, Northern Care Alliance reports being “particularly excited” about “the opportunities and consideration of the three shifts left (as defined in the Darzi report) and how we can move services closer to patients, whether that is through better digital access to appointments and records or far stronger collaborative working with our locality partners”. Digital plays “a key part in supporting and enabling our clinical colleagues in designing services for the future”, it adds, going on to outline work across the four locality partnerships (Salford, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham)  “will lead to us strengthening data sharing, and considering how we link up services becomes key for the future – particularly how we might use data and insight to help prevent illness in the future and trigger earlier interventions”. The trust also notes the potential for tech to help support virtual wards, helping “get patients back to their own home faster to enable better recovery but with the right support and monitoring around them”.