The World Health Organisation has published a handbook for digital transformation in primary care, discussing the digitalisation of paper records and the broader move toward digitalisation “which can ultimately lead to digital transformation, fundamentally changing how health services are delivered and accessed”.
Presenting an overview of process optimisation from paper to digital in patient records, the WHO tracks digitisation, or the process of converting and organising data from paper into digital format; digitalisation, or the process of digitally automating and simplifying processes to “streamline individual health programmes and reduce manual efforts for greater efficiency”; through to digital transformation, or the process of digitally optimising and utilising analytics and innovation to “fundamentally improve and enhance person-centred health systems and service delivery”.
Examples offered for the digital transformation of records include the use of algorithms in analysing patient data and identifying personalised treatment plans, and the existence of links between electronic records and digital personal health records, which allow clinicians to track patient history and supports their decision-making process.
To support the digital tracking of patient health and services, WHO recommends a “person-centred point of service system” (PCPOSS), which it defines as a digital system that facilitates the provision of health services at point of care, covering software capabilities and health interoperability standards that enable clinicians to access and update health information; as well as capabilities that enable “screening, managing, treating, and/or communicating with, individuals”; encompassing “various services and application types, including community-based information systems, decision support systems, electronic medical (or health) record systems and personal health records”.
It moves on to highlight the importance of understanding user requirements when it comes to planning and adopting a PCPOSS, recommending the involvement of an MDT team of health workers, business analysts and health informaticians, software engineers, and public health authorities; and the use of semi-structured interviews and workshops to gather this information. This, according to the handbook, will help build an understanding of use cases and inform key functionalities, as “the first step in designing the user experience”.
Other recommendations toward developing and adopting a comprehensive PCPOSS include the creation of a “data dictionary” to help standardise data models and terminology; the determining of decision-support logic; the mapping of health service schedules; and the prioritising of requirements. The handbook also suggests that the design and adaptation process “should be led primarily by a technology partner”, who can help with the system architecture, integrating standards, and more.
Finally, the handbook sets out recommendations for training, testing, and roll-out, including the use of ‘implementing teams’ who can train users, the involvement of a technology partner in deployment, and the ongoing management of feedback, training, software updates, and hardware maintenance.
To read the WHO’s handbook for digital transformation in primary care in full, please click here.
Digital and data in primary care
A HTN Now panel discussion explored innovation in primary care also covered what “good” looks like in this space, digital and patient access, barriers to innovation, and more; and our HTN Awards 2024 category for Best Use of Digital for Primary Care highlighted some of the best innovations happening in the primary care space, including digital health coaching, digital tools, digital platforms, and more.
HTN’s Primary Care Awards 2024 will also celebrate GP practices, primary care networks, integrated care boards and suppliers who have delivered improvement in the primary care space.
Other news has included the publication of NHSE’s strategy detailing the primary care implementation of the NHS patient safety strategy, noting the role of digital and data in areas such as automatically flagging patient safety issues to support reliability, and supporting clinical decision-making by digitally embedding diagnosis advice and safety netting. NHS England also recently published the latest statistics on appointments in general practice covering the month of September 2024, with a breakdown of appointment mode showing an increase of almost 900,000 in the number of appointments delivered online or through video conferencing.
Don’t forget to join HTN for an upcoming panel discussion on the 5 December, on the topic of utilising data to transform primary care. The discussion will focus on utilising the right data to support change, looking at how data is currently being used to optimise primary care, sharing practical use cases, sharing challenges, and exploring perspectives on the role of data to support access, capacity, and demand management.
