Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust has set out its ambitions to become a digitally enabled trust in its latest digital strategy to 2031, focusing on access to digital tools and AI, empowering colleagues with digital and data confidence, improving data, systems, and reporting integration, and delivering a consistent digital experience for service users.
Core clinical systems will be consolidated, alignment with the ICS will be prioritised, and digital capability will be improved through targeted training for 500 colleagues in 2026/27, the trust explains. Digital innovation will help support efficiency and reduce duplication; clinical safety, ethics, and accessibility standards will be embedded in all digital change through clear governance and oversight; and work will take place with colleagues, patients, and partners to test digital solutions.
The trust aims to “foster a culture in which data is understood, valued and used to support better care outcomes”, according to GHC, with colleagues empowered to build digital confidence with AI and automation through accessible development opportunities. The trust commits to creating role-based digital and data training and embedding it into induction, appraisal, and development pathways; working with colleagues to identify digital pain points and co-design improvements; prioritising high-value use cases for AI; and expanding its digital champions network to include data and AI champions, targeting ten percent of the workforce.
Also of note are plans to work with stakeholders on a phased integration roadmap in line with neighbourhood working, and to collaborate with ICS partners to deliver a data sharing strategy in support of areas such as population health and risk stratification. Self-management and digital care planning tools will be introduced through phased delivery, remote monitoring will be expanded, and accessible digital solutions will be co-designed with patients, carers, and clinicians.
“This strategy sets a direction that is ambitious about the future we want to create, while remaining realistic about the pace and sequencing required to deliver sustainable change,” says Simon Christopherson, clinical director and trust CCIO. “We are clear about the long-term improvements needed for GHC and our partners, while taking a phased and prioritised approach to implementation.”
Wider trend: Digital workforce
For a session exploring best practices around building workforce digital literacy and skills, HTN was joined by an expert panel from across the health sector, including Shanker Vijayadeva, GP lead – digital transformation in primary care, London Region, NHS England; Neill Crump, associate director for innovation and partnerships at The Dudley Group and Sandwell and West Birmingham; and Rebecca Ellis, associate director for education at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
The Department of Health and Social Care has opened a preliminary market engagement to support plans to develop a national workforce development framework and curriculum designed to promote consistency in skills, competencies, training, and professional development. With a maximum value of £1.3 million, the contract is split into two phases, with the first to establish the framework covering core competencies and skills, guidance on supervision models, advice on career progression, and principles for continuing professional development. An evidence and landscape review, along with structured stakeholder engagement, will also be carried out and fed into a report setting out baseline competencies and recommendations.
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 ICB’s plans include the creation of professional networks for digital training colleagues to support the sharing of resources, and a review of current training programmes. It also plans to look at current approaches to the assessment of digital skills across the system, with the intention of better matching training to individual needs and role requirements. Partnerships will be explored with education providers to support training demand, and a system-wide digital skills training plan will be developed to support delivery.
