In our previous article we looked at an overview about what Labour is planning to do to transform the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. We will look at one of these important aspects in more detail here and consider what Labour leaders are currently doing at this time, to deliver transformation of NHS service standards and performance.
On the ‘Sunday Morning Show with Trevor Phillips’ politics show yesterday Pat McFadden was unsurprised about the 60 or so consultations across different government departments that are being carried out by the new Labour government since taking office in July this year. (1)
According to The Health Foundation, Labour’s NHS transformation plan for 2025 (yet to be launched) is a plan of action that involves three key areas. These are ‘Analogue to Digital’, ‘Hospital to Communities’ and ‘Sickness to Prevention’. We will look at the first of these key areas ‘Analogue to Digital’ in this article and then the other areas in our next few posts soon. (2)
We know that Sir Keir Starmer formed a new government this summer and so from Labour’s point of view, it is ‘early days.’ We understand there are currently more consultations being conducted and we expect a more detailed NHS and healthcare in the United Kingdom plan to be presented by Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour leadership team this Spring 2025, although we do not have a specific date yet.
However, in order to deliver the kind of change that Health Minister Wes Streeting has identified through his consultations with experts and NHS employees, it is crucial to ‘hit the ground running’ in terms of introducing new policy. This is in order to assist the amazing professional people who are currently doing exceptional work throughout the NHS to be able to treat more people of all ages, in better and more efficient ways, without any delays, in the best environment and circumstances possible.
The NHS today is a wonderfully huge and complicated organisation. It is also important to consider that there are United Kingdom residents that are currently on waiting lists for treatment and there are people who may be in urgent need of additional care services, that are not currently being sufficiently provided. These UK citizens do not wish to wait any longer than they need to for their health needs to be met.
We outlined in our previous article what the new Labour government have set out in their manifesto and more recently on their official website. This initial article outlined what Keir Starmer and his Labour leadership team’s general priorities, aims and objectives are for improving the NHS.
Here we will consider what Labour is doing now in order to set the wheels in motion for transforming and updating this great, highly regarded and treasured but often severely challenged public service organisation that is the National Health Service in the United Kingdom today.
Analogue to Digital
NHS: A digital journey
The transition from analogue records to digital records in the NHS has involved introducing computer service networks that were originally designed and launched quite a number of years ago now.
Consequently, it is a difficult (but not impossible) task to upgrade and integrate IT systems physically located in different departments, hospitals and healthcare trusts to run on a secure and confidential system that meets the needs of the latest technology and demands of a variety of different services simultaneously. Sharing of data between doctors, nurses and other healthcare assistants can be crucial to providing holistic healthcare to patients, especially if a person has multiple health problems at the same time.
In the last few years digitisation in the NHS has leaped forward, motivated by the extra demands placed on the NHS during the Covid time. “By the end of 2022 app sign ups had reached over 30 million. There has been a growth in online booking services, telephone and remote appointments and e-prescribing.” Explained Elizabeth Bell and Tomos Lewis of Blake Morgan. (3)
Digital NHS: the priorities this year
A priority for Labour this year is finding the resources to start “building a robust digital infrastructure” says the private consulting company Simmons and Simmons who describe how healthcare managers under Labour leadership direction will use the latest Artificial Intelligence software. (4)
The new digital plan includes a focus on analysing patient data and improving disease prevention and diagnosis better and faster than traditional scanning ‘by sight’ methods alone. This is already having excellent preventative effects in areas such as breast cancer detection and early treatment. (5)
“An AI tool tested by the NHS successfully identified tiny signs of breast cancer in 11 women which had been missed by human doctors. The tool, called Mia, was piloted alongside NHS clinicians and analysed the mammograms of over 10,000 women.” Stated the BBC in March. (6)
Artificial Intelligence software is also now being used in the NHS at General Practitioner settings and James Tapper at The Guardian has highlighted this development in his article that describes how doctors are using the ‘C the Signs’ A.I. tool. “‘C the Signs’ analyses a patient’s medical record to pull together their past medical history, test results, prescriptions and treatments, as well as other personal characteristics that might indicate cancer risk, such as their postcode, age and family history.” (7)
“AI-driven genomics also enables the NHS to screen new-borns for rare diseases, identifying those at risk before symptoms arise.” (4) says Simmons and Simmons echoing BBC news reporting that recently covered a successful trial program which is now being offered to hundreds more new parents across the UK.
New digital system will improve NHS efficiency
“Labour will pool resources across neighbouring hospitals to introduce shared waiting lists to allow patients to be treated quicker.” is an admirable strategy. This efficiency improvement only works if the organisations involved can communicate seamlessly, in real time, on sophisticated software that can be shared across what can be very different models of healthcare provision. For example: computer record systems in a privately funded healthcare facility and also computer record systems in a traditional NHS Trust hospital facility sharing one patient’s data and information. (2)
Transforming the NHS into a digital service that embraces the latest artificial intelligence driven clinical software solutions is ambitious. It will mean that the technology suppliers that provide hardware and software and infrastructure support for this large organisation will have to meet the demands of a procurements process “known for its rigour and competitive nature”. As Simmons and Simmons advises, new technology suppliers will need to be competitive whilst being able to “meet regulatory standards but also demonstrate value for money and integration capabilities with existing systems.”
Denial of service attacks and malicious interference by hackers are real threats to computer networks with confidential patient data records. I.T. systems need to be designed with the ability for many different healthcare settings to look up and edit patient records whilst ensuring that no security firewall backdoors can compromise the digital computer network. Simultaneously it is important that the whole system cannot be attacked by a spreading computer virus or other malware that could cause havoc throughout the different computer records systems in such a large and diverse organisation such as the NHS.
New digital consultation and managing change in the NHS
As part of a countrywide consultation programme to lead change in updating and improving the NHS for the future under Labour, members of the public, clinicians and experts have been urged to submit ideas for the NHS future plan that is being formed this season. A new government online platform was launched on the 21st October 2024 called ‘change.nhs.uk’ The new platform has been designed to put staff and patients in driving seat of reform which is an admirable initiative. (7)
It is also realistic to remember that many long-term NHS employees are tired and wary of each successive government and political party that comes into power thinking that they can completely redesign the structure of a very established and hierarchical National Health Service. Every new Health minister and his or her team is keen on radically changing who makes decisions within the organisation and how the health service should operate.
‘Analysis paralysis’ is a factor that may, without some caution, stand in the way of delivering a better NHS now under Labour. It takes time and money to pay consultants to do reports and doesn’t instantly create policies that actually help people to obtain better and improved health. Experienced NHS employees know that this can cause major disruption that does not always lead to a better and more efficient outcomes for healthcare workers and their patients. As with most big businesses and civil service departments all around the world, overcoming resistance to change throughout the NHS and its culture will be a challenge in itself.
Going digital where possible means using technology to work faster and more efficiently which means that communication is improved and resources can be focused on spending time with patients when needed. Working smarter not harder using the latest technology is brilliant. This is especially true in this medical environment where patient numbers are massive as the UK population has gone up and trained doctors, nurses and healthcare providers are in demand as they are relatively (to the number of patients) in much smaller numbers.
More clarity on budgets and a detailed plan for training new and existing NHS employees on the new digital systems is an area that we need more information from Labour ministers and NHS leaders. We need a clear plan that ensures that patients can receive the healthcare that they need with teams of professionals and their assistants that can work together, without being overwhelmed, by patient waiting lists and workload.
We need more detail as soon as possible (most likely early in the Spring of 2025) with a plan from Labour with exactly how these new systems will be procured and who will benefit from improved digital technology across the NHS and which areas and departments will receive these resources first.
This NHS transformation plan will possibly cost more money than even the Conservative Party government was spending on the NHS during extraordinary covid times. Investing in people and the latest healthcare systems makes sense if Labour’s economic objective is growth, as it will create a healthier national workforce. If digital systems are fully invested in and rolled out across the country then this will put the NHS in a confident position to continue to be the much-loved and admired institution it is today and to thrive as we look ahead to better health outcomes for everyone in the United Kingdom as we head into the 21st century.
(1) ‘Full Show: Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips’ Featuring Pat Mcfadden, Sky News, 1 December 2024 ‘Full Show: Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips’ Featuring Pat Mcfadden, Sky News
(2) ‘Labour’s first 100 days in health and care policy’ Leo Ewbank, Jennie Leggat, The Health Foundation, 11 October 2024 ‘Labour’s first 100 days in health and care policy’ Leo Ewbank, Jennie Leggat, The Health Foundation
(3) ‘The Digitisation of the NHS’ Elisabeth Bell, Tomos Lewis, Blake Morgan, 20 June 2023 ‘The Digitisation of the NHS’ Elisabeth Bell, Tomos Lewis at Blake Morgan
(4) ‘Labour’s commitment to a technological revolution in healthcare’ Simmons and Simmons, 25 September 2024 ‘Labour’s commitment to a technological revolution in healthcare’ Simmons and Simmons
(5) Artificial Intelligence in Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Personalized Medicine’ National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information (USA) 17 October 2023 ‘Artificial Intelligence in Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Personalized Medicine’ National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information
(6) ‘NHS AI test spots tiny cancers missed by doctors’ BBC News, Technology, 21 March 2024 ‘NHS AI test spots tiny cancers missed by doctors’ BBC News, Technology
(7) ‘GPs use AI to boost cancer detection rates in England by 8%’ James Tapper, The Guardian, 21 Jul 2024 ‘GPs use AI to boost cancer detection rates in England by 8%’ James Tapper, The Guardian, 21 Jul 2024
(8) ‘Government issues rallying cry to the nation to help fix NHS’ Gov. UK official UK government website Press Release, 21 October 2024 ‘Government issues rallying cry to the nation to help fix NHS’ Gov. UK official UK government website Press Release