National Chief Information Officer visits Lancashire and South Cumbria

The National Chief Information Officer for Health and Social Care in England, Will Smart visited Lancashire and South Cumbria to hear about some of the successes, opportunities and challenges in digital health across the Lancashire & South Cumbria Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.

Chief Clinical Information Officers and Clinical Information Officers from across Lancashire & South Cumbria gathered with Will (pictured third from the left) and NHS England colleagues to discuss citizen and patient engagement, clinical leadership, interoperability, cyber security and STP priorities.

Will shared ‘hot off the press’ new national priorities and strategies for Informatics and digital leaders. This includes five pillars starting with the citizen and patient through to ‘creating a digitally intelligent future’.

For citizens and patients, the visit saw colleagues sharing local progress that allows people to contribute their own health data (via devices and wearable technology) into their care record, and the significant growth in the numbers of patients using local GP online services.

For clinicians, the developments of a shared care record which allows critical patient information to be available at the point of care is allowing clinical services and expertise to be available to patients wherever they were seeking care across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

For the wider healthcare economy, the improvements in quality and outcomes for patients, and the affordability that digital solutions offer, demonstrates the necessity of digital leadership at a national, regional and local level to realise these benefits for all.

Will concluded that there was more good practice to glean and share from Lancashire & South Cumbria and is planning a further visit in the near future to hear more.