A group digital strategy for 2026-2030 from St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group has set out the strategic direction required to support the transition of the group to a single integrated health organisation.
“Over the next four years, a significant proportion of investment and delivery effort will focus on modernising the group core digital infrastructure, networks and end user technology, while further strengthening cyber security and organisational resilience,” the board shares. “These foundational capabilities are essential to reducing operational risk, supporting safe and reliable clinical services and creating the platform required for future transformation.” Digital priorities for 2026/27 look to use £23m-£25m in capital allocation strictly on risk remediation, including network hardware and wifi coverage.
There is a need to tackle a “fragmented and ageing” technology landscape across the trust, the board continues, with aims to reduce complexity by rationalising systems, improve interoperability, and optimise EPR. A group-wide data capability will be established to support timely and actionable insight to support decision making, and AI and automation will be adopted to release staff time and improve organisational productivity. According to the group, this will include tech such as ambient voice, Microsoft Copilot, and the automaton of high-volume processes in corporate and clinical services, with an AI centre of excellence providing governance and support for safe adoption.
Analytics teams will be brought together to form a single, coordinated workforce, to help improve consistency and enable the provision of better support to clinical and operational teams, the board notes. A consistent set of metrics and reporting will also be established across the group, and data will be brought into a single, modern platform with common tools, with an aim to reduce fragmentation and provide staff with faster access to reliable information.
For staff, the group highlights a move to simplify channels for collaboration and communication, as well as access to digital services. This will involve a transition to a single email and calendar platform using NHS.net; the introduction of a single platform for messaging, meetings, and collaboration; a single front door for staff to access systems and information; and a single digital network across all sites.
For patients, the board shares its focus on using the NHS App as the primary front door for services, to enable patients to manage appointments and communications digitally, and to standardise digital services across specialties to include referrals and “wait well” support. Work will be done to ensure information provided through digital channels flows directly into clinical systems and EPR, it continues. By 2030, hopes are to have 90 percent of patient interactions carried out through the NHS App, 90 percent of appointments managed online, and 100 percent of services using standardised digital pathways for consistent patient journeys.
To help with the delivery of the strategy, the group plans to focus on building technical, analytical, and clinical informatics skills; to establish clear roles and governance for digital, data, and cyber; and to establish a culture of development and innovation to help adapt to AI and emerging technologies.
Wider trend: Digital infrastructure
NHS England has published its sepsis modern service framework, putting forward a digital roadmap with recommendations and timelines for digital infrastructure including the single patient record, the Federated Data Platform, EPRs, machine learning, AI, wearables, and digital diagnostics. The framework outlines how the NHS will work to improve sepsis care over the next ten years, focusing-in on priority actions, and helping to inform those involved in planning and commissioning services for those with, or at risk of, sepsis. The ambition is to “reduce death, life-threatening complications and long-term impact from sepsis and severe infection in all patient groups by at least 25 percent by 2035”, NHSE shares.
The World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union are inviting comments on draft reference architecture guidance for digital public infrastructure for health, intended to help countries plan and implement national digital health infrastructure. Respondents are asked for feedback on a range of areas including clarity, completeness, technical soundness, and practicality, either via a comment matrix or online form. Questions look at how well the guidance meets the intended purpose, scope, and audience; and the soundness of core architectural choice and distinction, two-layer architecture, interoperability, and conformance and testing.
Interweave has announced a number of selected suppliers for procurements across infrastructure, portal, care planning, data aggregation, and messaging. The procurements are reportedly hoped to help toward Interweave’s ambition of providing a “vendor agnostic” technology platform, with preferred bidders selected for four different lots covering specialised areas of the platform. The selected suppliers have “expressed a willingness to work together”, Interweave reports. Aire Logic has been successful in securing the contract in lot one, for Interweave Exchange and Interweave Connect, representing the data aggregation platform and messaging tool. Synanetics has been selected for lot two, covering the Interweave Portal.
