NHS Job Shop: “Working for Health” in Kentish Town. Closed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Normally, the Conversation prides itself on academic rigour and evidence but I totally disagree with thrust of this article. It argues that there are many obstacles to bringing the power of 21st-century technology to the NHS but that shouldn’t stop us trying.
Source: The benefits that a digital healthcare system could bring aren’t out of reach
For me, this is a typical article from a consulting partner trying to catch a big-fish. The UK’s National Audit Office has ample evidence of failed technology investment in the public sector.
Let me make a very powerful point that has been stressed by eminent scholars, technology is not strategic, it’s an enabler. Yes, technology can lead to to radical and transformational change but strategy must lead.
For some highly rated insights into technology in the public sector take a look at some of my earlier posts. Here are a few links:
- UK Local Authorities and Shared Services: Cost-Cutting – Myth or Reality?
- Public Sector Performance: Catch 22 type Dilemmas
If we take a strategic approach to the future of the NHS, it’s in terminal stages of cancer and no amount of additional resources will change the prognosis – perhaps throwing vast amounts of money around will buy a few more years but is that in the national interest?
Politicians must come clean with the public and deliver a world-class public health system by scrapping the NHS and starting again based on global best practice. After all, post-Brexit, the UK will be considerably poorer and will have to cut its national cloth accordingly.
Thoughts?
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