East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) has published a strategy impact report to 2025, reflecting on key achievements and progress as its former 2021 strategy comes to an end. The trust also shares that a new strategy will be developed over the summer, encouraging stakeholders to engage with this process and have their say in shaping upcoming plans and objectives.
It points to the success of digital initiatives such as its digital life coach programme, training 25 digital champions at the trust to pass on training to other staff and service users to improve digital confidence, and the evolution of the People Participation directorate to support the involvement of people with lived experience in the development of improved care across the organisation. PP leads are now established across “nearly all” trust services, including in its digital and estates teams, it shares.
Getting into specifics around delivery of its 2021 digital strategy, ELFT highlights its work in making its services “more reliable and resilient”, including in moving all clinical systems to the cloud, and in investments toward the transformation of IT infrastructure to improve network and Wi-Fi access. A dedicated cyber security team has been set up to oversee the safety of trust services, and a trust integration engine has been established to help connect information between systems.
Clinical information sharing with partner organisations has been helped by work on Shared Care Record systems, and the trust has also implemented a Patient Held Record platform, which connects to the NHS App to offer service users control over their data. A Digital Project Initiation Office and Digital Solutions Board ensure the selection and deployment of the right digital systems, the trust notes.
A Digital People Participation agenda has been developed to help promote service user voices within digital change programmes such as in the trust’s leadership of the OneLondon programme to digitise use of the Mental Health Act. A newly established “4D Group” is central to promoting user-centred design of digital systems and will help overcome upcoming challenges in the use of AI for clinical care, the trust reports.
ELFT notes progress on enhancing its digital infrastructure, with the deployment of new technologies, network upgrades, and cloud computing adoption. Enhanced access to digital systems is supporting teams to access key patient information from varied locations, and increased resilience and reliability has resulted in a “significant reduction” in operational disruption. This year, the trust has also adopted predictive data models to identify those at risk of missing appointments, to help reduce DNAs and identify reasons for non-attendance.
Elsewhere, the trust reports on savings made through the Going Further, Going Together (GFGT) programme, which was launched in 2024 to help develop and deliver plans for financial sustainability and improved efficiency. The programme needed to deliver £29 million in savings at its outset, and in 2024/25 achieved £32.8 million of savings through reducing reliance on private beds, reducing spend on agency staff, and reducing “extra staff that it was not funded for”. “Work continues as we move into 2025/26 where we have a trust wide savings target of £31.9m to deliver through GFGT, and over £40m of savings now signed off and moving into delivery,” ELFT highlights.
Chief executive Lorraine Sunduza OBE, said: “I want to thank everyone who helped us with developing our strategy in 2021, and ask that you all join us in ensuring we have the right plan for the next five years to enable our communities and our workforce to thrive.” An engagement programme is currently underway, with a dedicated webpage inviting input from staff, services users, and partners, and strategy development webinars scheduled for August and September.
More from the capital: Strategy and digital progress in London
Last month, 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 shared 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.
West London NHS Trust shared progress on transformation and digital, with highlights including cyber remediation, digital productivity, and ambient voice pilots. The trust shares progress including a current review of IT estates, systems, and processes, to inform a coproduced digital strategy focusing on robust infrastructure, cyber security, effective EPR solutions, data and insights, innovation, and empowering people. A cyber strategy and engagement plan are also being developed in support.
South West London ICB’s latest Cyber Security Strategy set out six objectives to be achieved by 2030: strengthening governance, managing risk, understanding critical systems and suppliers, prevention and resilience, detecting and responding to threats and incidents, and embedding cyber awareness and culture. Informed by cyber assessments of NHS provider organisations and lessons learned from recent NHS cyber incidents, along with “key takeaways” from the ICB’s system-wide cyber incident simulation exercise, the strategy is designed to align with the revised Data Security and Protection Toolkit and national guidelines.
HTN took a deep dive into digital and data in London as part of its ICS region series, exploring insights from South East London ICB, Guy’s and St Thomas’, Central London Community Healthcare, and more. Highlights from the past year in the London region were featured, as were key emerging themes from recent board papers and publications.
