Sajid Javid says all care providers must use digital care records

Around 40 per cent of care providers are “still grappling entirely with paper-based records”, says Health and Social Care secretary Sajid Javid, who is calling on them to accelerate the roll out of digital records and shore up "cyber resilience".

Having already announced £150 million to help fund digitisation in social care, Mr Javid has a target to get 80 per cent of social care providers (including care homes and home care providers) using digital care records by March 2024.

‘Make care safer and more seamless’

After his week-long tour of care settings and hospitals, Mr Javid told attendees at the HSJ Digital Transformation Summit: “I want all social care providers to adopt a digital record for social care.

“We will work with the sector to deliver this in the most effective way we can, and offer support to those who need it.

“I expect every health and social care setting to see this as part of their basic responsibilities in looking after those in need. After all, when it comes to matters of life and death we must embrace everything that has the potential to make care safer and more seamless.”

Mr Javid referred to the Covid pandemic as a time of urgent necessity, and “a time of incredible invention” which “pushed digital transformation to levels that we never thought possible”.

After spending a week “getting out of Westminster to hospitals and care homes all across the country”, Mr Javid said “everywhere I went I saw incredible examples of how digital technologies are already transforming health and care for the better.

"But I also heard stories of where there is much more to do, and where outdated silos and systems were causing frustration”.

Shoring up cyber resilience in an ‘uncertain world’

Having begun his speech highlighting the “appalling and unprovoked attack that President Putin has unleashed” on the people of Ukraine, Mr Javid highlighted how “shocking events of the past few weeks” have reminded us of cyber attacks and how established a form of conflict they’ve now become.

“We can only make these digital reforms if we keep the system safe from those who want to cause us harm.

“Cyber attacks like these can impact patient safety just as much as what happens on a hospital ward and so, in an uncertain world, this must be a focus for leaders all across health and care.

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and we are shoring up cyber resilience in all parts of health and care, backed by over £300 million of investment since 2017."

Speed up nationwide roll out of virtual wards

The Health Secretary also wants virtual wards rolled out across the country. This will be funded over the next two years by £450 million from the government.

Norfolk and Norwich NHS Foundation Trust set up a virtual ward a year ago to remotely monitor people’s health in their own homes. In hospitals, the move freed up over 6,000 bed days for inpatients and led to patient satisfaction levels of 99 per cent.

Mr Javid said: “Technology can do so much to help people to live independent lives and minimise the time they spend in clinical settings.

“We have seen the brilliant use of virtual wards throughout this pandemic. We’ve had such positive feedback from patients who can recuperate in their own home with their loved ones, safe in the knowledge that their condition is being monitored round the clock by their clinician.”

The government’s Integration white paper aims to give people better care, through better integration of the NHS and social care system. This includes giving patients a single, digital care record for them to book appointments, order prescriptions, and communicate with their care providers on one platform.

The white paper builds on the government's Health and Social Care Bill and the People at the Heart of Care White Paper, announced in December, which set out a 10-year plan for social care. In his speech, Mr Javid also promised to publish a Digital Health Plan this Spring.

Mr Javid added: “I don’t see digital transformation as a flash in the pan, a quick fix at a time of crisis. It is fundamental to the mission to clear the Covid backlog, and to the long-term health and happiness of this country.”