Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s latest strategy to 2030 has been published, with a focus on modernising infrastructure, introducing digital tools and technologies supporting productivity, and enhancing digital skills to support modern ways of working.
“This is an extremely exciting time for the trust” it states, highlighting the delivery of a new Frimley Park Hospital as “the catalyst for transforming the way we work”, and committing to optimising acute care and shifting care out of the hospital setting, adding: “Some of these changes will be enabled by digital technologies.”
The strategy details progress made since the publication of the trust’s last strategy covering 2020-2025, including becoming “a leader in digital” and putting in place “foundations for achieving excellence in the future”. Specifically, it refers to the launch of Frimley Health’s EPR, which it reports brought together “200 IT systems into one”, along with investments in infrastructure and in digital technologies.
To ensure its strategic ambition of “modern infrastructure”, Frimley Health’s strategy notes the development of the new Frimley Park Hospital to include “digitally innovative designs that fulfil the principles of a ‘smart hospital'”. The trust’s EPR and Shared Care Record will be optimised, it states, to digitise processes in order to free up time, and to enable the use of data to guide decision-making, direct performance, and deliver “excellent quality care”. Hardware will be refreshed, whilst non-clinical legacy systems will be reviewed and replaced, according to the strategy, with other improvements including investing in reliable Wi-Fi connectivity and the increased use of AI. The trust also commits to advancing its digital maturity, and to achieving “the highest international digital maturity benchmark”.
Digital and data are both identified as enablers to the trust’s strategic ambition of “satisfied patients” and making every interaction count, allowing care to be provided closer to people’s homes by using remote monitoring and virtual wards, using technology to support communication with patients, and harnessing data to promote collaboration, drive transformation, and focus on population health management. The strategy also points to the development of the MyFrimley Health Record, to provide patients a better experience of care through functions including appointment booking, communication with clinicians, and access to “quality information” about conditions. Investment in digital technologies, it continues, will help to reduce staff’s administrative burden and “free up our precious resources to focus on what really matters”.
On “engaged people”, focus is placed on digital skills and digital literacy helping to modernise ways of working, and to harness technologies such as AI to boost productivity, offering staff “fulfilling, innovative and collaborative roles” and “a flexible work/life balance”. For this purpose, the trust commits to investing in education and training programmes, along with mentoring and apprenticeships, to support staff in developing the digital skills to “work in modern ways and optimise the use of technology”.
The strategy also looks to accelerate the adoption and “fostering of innovation” in healthcare, including in AI, robotics, and genomics, to deliver “high-quality, personalised care”. An Innovation Hub will be developed to further this agenda, it states, along with collaborations with regional Health Innovation Networks, industry partners, and universities. To read Frimley Health’s strategy to 2030 in full, please click here.
Digital transformation and modernisation from across the NHS
For a recent HTN Now webinar, we were joined by a panel of experts to discuss the role of digital in supporting NHS reform – modernising services, shifting from hospital to community, and supporting the move from reactive to proactive care. Panel members shared their insight and experience from a wide range of digital projects, highlighting what worked well and their learnings; how their organisations are currently tackling key challenges such as capacity and demand, and managing waiting lists; and balancing risk with innovation.
Another HTN Now webinar also looked at some of the key determinants of successful NHS workforce transformation, looking at how best to drive buy-in and support the workforce, and noting challenges and barriers to transformation. Panellists included Dr Penny Kechagioglou, CCIO and deputy CMO at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust; Stuart Dures, digital skills development manager at Greater Manchester Mental Health; Dan Chilcott, client enablement director at Patchwork Health; and Sally Mole, senior digital programme manager – digital portfolio delivery team at The Dudley Group.
We explored South West London ICS’s latest digital strategy covering 2025-2028, centred around five digital priorities: digital infrastructure, integrating systems, data strategy, empowering citizens, and innovation. Noting the organic growth of SWL’s current digital infrastructure, the plan cites the need to create a “robust and secure digital platform across SWL, ensuring comprehensive cyber security, system and data availability, data quality and appropriate governance”. Moving forward, the ICS commits to establishing expert digital teams and developing digital competence, implementing and consolidating systems, improve capacity management, ensuring digital procurements are interoperable and represent value for money, and levelling-up provider digital maturity.
