The health service continues to tackle challenging legacy systems in its transition to digitalisation – 78% of NHS IT leaders put interoperability at the top of their priority list in the latest NHS IT survey. This is not the first year that interoperability has topped this NHS IT list, highlighting that more needs to be done to bring systems together and increase automation in the NHS.
The annual NHS IT Leadership Survey, conducted by Digital Health Intelligence, compiles the views of senior NHS employees involved in IT projects. Respondents to the survey voiced their hope that NHSX will further aid interoperability in the NHS by supporting the need for standards, communication and funding.
System interaction
As the NHS has grown over many years, various systems have been implemented to deal with specific functionalities or services. Yet as technology has evolved, it has become extremely apparent that more advantages can be gained if systems were more closely aligned, building automation to limit the repetition of work.
Even the identity and access management system, or communication systems, such as NHSmail or Active Directory, requires automation. This enables the reduction of administration, as well as improving safeguards to ensure that accurate access records are held.
Directory Manager is one of the potential solutions of interoperability across critical people management and communication systems. Linking Active Directory, NHSmail and ESR, BDS Solutions’ Directory Manager provides links between these systems removing the need to apply multiple changes to each system.
NHS IT priorities
Clinical engagement was the second priority in the NHS IT Leadership Survey, followed by ensuring a reliable, resilient, secure infrastructure at 67%. This is critical for the NHS, so we’re pleased to see it is so high on the list. As existing systems begin to connect, and new systems are introduced to the NHS, ensuring that infrastructure is robust and secure is fundamental to protect the health service and its ability to deliver for patients.
Directory Manager can play a significant role in this protection, by ensuring that access across all systems is only provided to current employees. Past employees’ access can be swiftly revoked, building a robust security level, without the reliance on multiple employees to complete multiple changes, across multiple systems.
Removing the silos between systems is a critical path for the NHS on its journey to digitalisation. In every survey over the last four years ‘electronic patient records’ has been identified as the biggest ongoing project. Digitalising patient data means there has never been such a crucial time to protect access to NHS systems.
NHS IT teams have a clear understanding of their top priorities. Whilst reliance on legacy systems will realistically last for many years, the NHS must bridge the gap and use tools that can automate tasks and provide visibility. Interoperability will be critical for long-term digitalisation success.