IT in healthcare is being hit by "confusion, blight, lack of
motivation, lack of appropriate skills and inefficient use",
according to a British Computer Society report. It warns that there
is "a real risk that more than 40 years' experience will be swept
away just for the 'new' or by attrition or inertia", writes John
Kavanagh.
The Radical Steps report, resulting from a BCS workshop involving
more than 100 leaders across the field of IT in health, plus
subsequent wide consultation on the findings, highlights the
sector's concerns and recommendations for the success of new
strategies for healthcare IT. It follows the Government's
announcement of a massive NHS IT upgrade programme.
The key issues to emerge from the report, published by the BCS
Health Informatics Committee are:
- The main problem in the NHS is not the IT but the culture
- IT is for patient care, not just the needs of the
organisation
- Standardisation is required across the health sector
- Lessons can and must be learnt from both positive and negative
experiences
- Current best practice should be developed: some of it leads the
world
- Health informatics should be established as a profession
- Awareness of the benefits of informatics needs to be promoted
among clinicians
- There is a need for better training.
In all this, the patient must come first, the report says.
"Ubiquitous access to clinical records is necessary, and measures
must be taken to ensure that records can survive in a usable form
from birth to death," it says.
"The concerns raised must be addressed in order to learn from
lessons of the past, stimulate real partnerships and creative ways
forward, and realise maximum benefit for patient care, healthcare
management, policy development and health maintenance."
The BCS Health Informatics Committee says, "Radical Steps is a
continuing open exploration of previous informatics experiences,
both in health and other domains, which will have a major effect on
the efficacy of informatics in support of health and welfare.
"Wide consultation has highlighted many issues, some in synergy and
others at odds with current policy. But all agree that they require
in-depth consideration and high-impact action."
The need for training was underlined in an earlier BCS report,
which pointed to a lack of awareness of the real potential of IT
among NHS staff, plus a lack of enthusiasm and even fear of IT
systems.
A further specialist group for people in healthcare who have an
interest in or work with IT in the NHS is being set up by the BCS.
Several existing BCS medical and nursing specialist groups serve
huge numbers of people, many of whom are not members of the
society. The new specialist group will cater for people not covered
by existing groups, such as physiotherapists, dieticians and
chiropodists.