New digital platform will improve sharing of medical information
The service will be rolled out as part of a wider reform package to make it easier for NHS and social care staff to jointly support vulnerable people.
Wes Streeting, Health & Social Care Secretary, made the announcement on Friday 3rd January, framing the decision as indicative of a recognition that the UK’s public healthcare and social care providers need to be more closely aligned.
The overall goal is to join up existing digital systems, removing the need to repeat information about a person’s medical history and needs between organisations. In turn, this should mean staff can access data faster, expediting service and treatment. All care providers have now been given the target of full digitisation by the end of the current parliament.
Additionally, new national standards and guidance on the use of technology in care have also been set in a bid to ensure providers have working knowledge of which platforms are fit for purpose, secure and compliant with regulations. The creation of a National Care Service, bringing together medical and social care, has also been confirmed. However, recent news the full report from an independent commission into adult social care, including recommendations for improvements, will not be available until 2028, has been criticised.
‘In the first six months of this Government, work has already begun on stabilising the care sector, investing in prevention, and in carers and care workers. The investment and reforms we’re announcing today will help to modernise social care, get it working more closely with the NHS, and help deliver our Plan for Change,’ said Streeting. ‘But our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer term action.’
‘The independent commission will work to build a national consensus around a new National Care Service able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st century,’ he continued. ‘I have written to opposition parties to invite them to take part in the commission’ work, and asked Baroness Louise Casey to build a cross-party consensus, to ensure the national care service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years.’
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Image: Claudia Love via Unsplash
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