East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s (ESNEFT’s) latest clinical strategy to 2031 has incorporated the shift from analogue to digital outlined in the 10-Year Plan, setting out ambitions to modernise planned care, digitally enable outpatient services, and introduce tech such as digital pathology and AI decision support.
The trust hopes to build on its newly-implemented EPR to improve clinical care, patient experience, collaboration, and use of resources, aiming to free-up clinical time for direct patient care and produce recurrent efficiencies. Patient safety is a key focus by using a single system for results and clinical notes, with the trust noting communication with patients and GPs will be offered through MyChart, and 49 legacy systems will be retired to reduce supplier costs, it states. Admin workload will be reduced with AVT, and population health analytics will be improved to support targeting and planning.
Following on from the five “big bets” in the 10-Year Plan, ESNEFT commits to strengthening BI and analytics capabilities, including population health management; AI capabilities “both within and outside” its EPR; to pursuing genomics with strategic partnerships; to establish wearables as “a standard component of care”; and to use its Robotic Centre of Excellence to expand access to robotic surgery for patients. The trust’s Genomics Working Group is already developing five strategic work packages to improve the delivery of genomic medicine, prioritising EPR integration, streamlining pathways to testing, and embedding research as a driver of innovation and improvement.
Innovative technologies will also be adopted to help improve care, with digital histopathology to be implemented to enable remote specialist review and AI-supported diagnostics, shared imaging and reporting across the Eastern Diagnostic Imaging Network, and work to develop AI imaging tools. The trust shares intentions to build on its robotic surgery programme by expanding training and developing an Institute for Excellence in Robotic Surgery with Anglia Ruskin University. AI tools will be deployed “carefully, with clear governance, clinical oversight, and evidence-based evaluation”, whilst digital tools for patient self-management will be explored to help patients better manage their health outside of hospital.
Remote consultations will be increased, and real-time updates and clinical advice will be made available through MyChart and the NHS App to help modernise planned care, the trust states. 50 percent of outpatient activity will be delivered either virtually or in community settings, and virtual wards will be used to support timely discharge and admission avoidance. Regional diagnostic networks will be supported to introduce new technologies like digital pathology and AI decision support to speed up diagnostics, and collaboration across corporate functions will improve productivity and resilience for overall clinical services.
Under the new strategy, the trust discusses how it will make virtual care a “core model of delivery”, looking to offer 40-50 virtual beds per 100,000 population with a focus on frailty, respiratory, and cardiac care. 60 percent of those with moderate-to-severe frailty or complex long term conditions will be supported at home with remote monitoring, and a 30 percent reduction will be achieved in emergency admissions for virtual ward patients compared with matched cohorts.
Staff will be supported to adapt to technological innovation with investments made in training to support with AI integration and digital systems. ESNEFT also makes a series of commitments to modernising its corporate services, including investing in its IT infrastructure and devices, in advanced analytical tools, in workforce systems, and in estate and asset management systems.
Wider trend: Embracing 10-Year Plan innovation
South Yorkshire ICB has launched three digital strategies designed to modernise services, strengthen cyber resilience, and empower its workforce with digital skills to continue to deliver safe and effective care. The digital strategy to 2027 notes AI as one of the major areas highlighted by the ICB. The board outlines its plans to set up a system-wide AI and automation forum to oversee development of agreed frameworks and principles for adoption, and to collaborate with academic partners to ensure these are kept up-to-date. Steps will be taken to help partners understand their AI maturity, and a system pilot will be undertaken for ambient voice, taking advantage of opportunities to procure at scale through the NHS Test Framework.
Cambridgeshire Community Services and Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS trusts have shared outcomes from the use of an AI app in physiotherapy services, amidst a £2 million procurement exercise to roll out a similar programme for the next three years. During a 12-week pilot at Cambridgeshire Community in partnership with the GIRFT Further Faster programme and Flok Health, patients in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were invited to use an AI-based app for their physiotherapy, with more than 2,500 signing up. Outcomes from that pilot included a 44 percent reduction in waiting times for musculoskeletal services, and a 55 percent reduction in back pain waiting lists. The trusts also highlight “hundreds of hours” of clinician time saved to focus on patients with more complex needs.
Moorfields spin-out Cascader has announced its partnership with Specsavers focused on harnessing the potential of AI innovation to improve patient care in optometry. Cascader, a spin-out from Moorfields, UCL and Topcon Health, is focused on building clinical-grade AI for ophthalmology. A mission statement from its website outlines its work to use AI “to enable safe, evidence-based decisions in high-volume, high-risk eye conditions” and to use oculomics for early detection of systemic disease.
