07.09.18
Hancock sets up multiskilled HealthTech Advisory Board chaired by Ben Goldacre
Health and social care secretary has announced the creation of the HealthTech Advisory Board, to be chaired by Dr Ben Goldacre, which will report directly to Matt Hancock.
Reporting directly to the secretary of state, the aim of the advisory board will be to “highlight where change needs to happen, where best practice isn’t being followed, and be an ideas hub for how we transform the NHS to improve patient outcomes, patient experience, and to make the lives of NHS staff easier,” said Hancock.
Dr Goldacre is a renowned a physician, academic and science writer as well as a senior clinical research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University. He is well-known for his Bad Science column in The Guardian and for exposing misuse of science and statistics by politicians and journalists.
Hancock unveiled the new board at the Health and Innovation Expo 2018, where he also revealed £200m in digital funds that NHS trusts can bid for in order to help push an IT systems transformation.
In his speech, he also announced that the NHS app will enter private beta this month which will allow patients to book GP appointments, access the 111 services, view medical records, and record organ donation preferences.
The app will be available nationally by the end of the year following testing across five pilot sites across Liverpool, Hastings, Bristol, Staffordshire and South Worcestershire.
Speaking at the event, Hancock said: “The culture change we need to see requires strong management and leadership. I’m determined to grow stronger leadership across the NHS. We should train more of our own, yes, and bring in more talent from the outside too who know how to inspire change.”
“And we are starting this at the top. I am creating a HealthTech Advisory Board which I’m delighted will be chaired by Dr Ben Goldacre, reporting directly to me, consisting of tech experts, clinicians and academics, and, as in the case of Ben, people who combine that holy trinity 3 in 1.”
The secretary of state used his speech to urge local healthcare leaders to fully embrace digital transformation. One thing Hancock highlighted was the issue of patients being given suboptimal care due to systems failing to communicate because of an inability to transfer patient data.
“The gap between where we could be and where we are is wide and getting wider. Our doctors, nurses, GPs, pharmacists, our patients, should all have easy access to the best tools that technology can give them,” he concluded.
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Image credit: Kris Krüg, Flickr Images