A recent board meeting has outlined the role, remit, purpose, and agenda of a new Joint Infrastructure Committee launched by The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. Following approval from both trust boards, terms of reference have now been submitted to the committee for formal endorsement.
Its purpose is to oversee the development of digital, estate, and sustainability plans including regenerative opportunities with partners to improve and rationalise the trust’s estate, save money, or improve efficiency. The committee will also be responsible for ensuring alignment with the 10-Year Health Plan, providing oversight to both boards on aspects of infrastructure supporting high quality patient care, and obtaining “objective assurance” on digital, data and technology, including risks and investment cases.
Also outlined are duties to include an initial baseline assessment of estates, infrastructure, facilities management, sustainability, digital, data, and technology, and the oversight and assurance on the development and delivery of plans in each of these areas. It will similarly review long-term capital planning for new facilities or systems, receive assurances on resourcing, track progress on benefits realisation, and have oversight of risks and independent internal and external infrastructure reviews.
The partnership is said to provide the opportunity to ensure operational IT infrastructure risk and cyber security are appropriately managed, and it will be called upon to provide assurance on the content of digital plans, DSPT, cyber security, and data and analytics. Reviews on infrastructure-related risks should then be upwardly reported to the trust boards.
The committee will be made up of at least nine members, comprising a minimum of five non-executive directors and four members of executive teams, including the group chief strategy and digital officer. Roles including director of estates, digital director, IT director, and operational CIO, will also be regular attendees at committee meetings, which are to be held at least six times per year. Reports will be offered to each board meeting held in public, through the deputy chair’s Integrated Board Committees Assurance Report.
Digital progress and priorities from NHS boards
NHS England’s board met in July, offering updates on key performance metrics, and to discuss the NHS App, the future operating model for NHSE’s digital priorities, and to maximise EPRs following implementation. On opportunities for maximising productivity following EPR implementation, the board discussed the potential to create a blueprint to allow learnings from both successful and unsuccessful implementations. This will support the next stage, being the analysis of standardisation, wider business change, local capabilities, and the impact of “peripheral technologies e.g. ambient voice”.
London Ambulance Service NHS Trust board shared a series of updates on current digital, data and innovation work, including an AI and automation programme, infrastructure programme, and data programme. The board share key areas of focus for its digital & data programme 2025/26, such as the implementation of robotic process automation to reduce repetitive tasks and free up administrative time, and an infrastructure programme aiming to reduce internal critical incidents by 30 percent by April 2026.
King’s Health Partners, a partnership between Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital, South London and Maudsley, and King’s College London, has published a strategy to 2030 built around the three strategic priorities of delivering personalised health, improving population health, and accelerating digital health.
NHS Dumfries & Galloway’s board shared its Annual Delivery Plan 2025/26, outlining planned actions in areas including digital and innovation, along with updates on digital transformation from across the system. Leading into upcoming digital programmes and priorities, the board shares that it is looking to appoint a new director of digital, helping with executive support and commitment to optimising technologies and upskilling the workforce in digital skills.
