At the start of the New Year, Prime Minister Theresa May announced the government’s long term plan for the NHS in England to secure its future for generations to come.
An additional £20.5 billion budget has been allocated to help improve health outcomes and tackle health inequalities over the next 10 years and, although these ambitions have been welcomed, there are concerns around whether they can actually be delivered – especially in light of significant workforce vacancies, estimated at around 100,000 or one in every 11 jobs.
Both Theresa May and Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, have committed to prioritising recruitment and staffing budgets to fulfil the current and future needs.
Modern NHS
Investment in a modern, “fit for the future” health service, offering “world-class treatments” will undoubtedly make the NHS a more efficient and attractive employer. Alongside this, investment in technology will build automation in the NHS to reduce cumbersome and outdated administration practices; saving time and money and improving safety.
BDS Solutions is solving this very challenge for many NHS Trusts with its Directory Manager solution. Synchronising data across ESR, NHSmail and Active Directory, Directory Manager enables system integration, removing tedious administration and providing a secure and highly-efficient mechanism to retain control of access management.
As recruitment and staffing takes centre stage, this level of access and identity management is a critical step to success. With an increase in remotely accessed applications, mobile working and a rise in the number of systems across a vast workforce, ensuring systems are secure and data is protected (viewed and edited only by authorised personnel) is fundamental to patient safety, staff wellbeing and effective management.