A formal NHS Scotland partner has backed government efforts to promote workforce engagement on the need for digital transformation – and insists it is also integral to unlocking innovation ambitions

Jonathan Cameron, deputy director for digital health and care at The Scottish Government, recently commented that the country’s 190,000 health and social care staff had to be inspired to take a significant role in that digital journey in order to boost both confidence and practical skills.

He stated: “That applies to all levels – we’ve done a lot of work at board level around engagement and understanding, as well as working with the frontline who use these tools in their day-to-day roles.

“There’s a massive programme of work around workforce development, capabilities and digital maturity so that we understand what we are good at, what we are less good at, and what needs attention so that we can improve.”

Mr Cameron added that digital is “at the heart of what we are trying to do in Scotland, in social care as well as health care” and “based on the fact that this is a joint approach with local government, that we look for integration points where we can bring services, staff and users together”.

InnoScot Health supports the government’s stance, particularly Mr Cameron’s belief in “embedding the importance of digital and also the art of the possible” with Health Board leadership teams across the country.

Executive Chair at InnoScot Health, Graham Watson insists that NHS Scotland staff must not only be completely assured of, and bought into, the benefits of digital transformation, but must become ambassadors for it too, in turn providing an important enabling platform for fresh innovation.

He said: “The workforce is absolutely vital to success in integrating best practice digital technologies quickly and effectively across NHS Scotland.

“Staff must be fully on board with its benefits in order to put into practice the automation we need in order to cut down on time-consuming administrative work and inefficient processes, while better integrating services, and ultimately, producing better patient outcomes.

“I believe that digital-led change can also promote a fresh, more exploratory mindset – the ‘art of the possible’ as Mr Cameron says – encouraging creative, transformative thinking, with innovators coming to the fore who see fresh possibilities derived from new ways of working.

“It represents nothing less than the opening up of a new world of opportunity, particularly with artificial intelligence (AI) and preventative medicine technologies rapidly gaining momentum all the time.”

The Right Decision Support Service (RDS), a first-for-Scotland exemplar of digital transformation in action, was first developed thanks to a strong partnership between the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) and InnoScot Health.

RDS complies with the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark, meaning staff can use its suite of decision support tools with full confidence that all clinical safety, quality, and regulatory standards have been met.

It has been well-received too, with 77% of users confirming that its tools are enabling better use of available resource; that they are saving staff time (64%); and improving the quality of patient care (74%).

Despite all the benefits, InnoScot Health agrees with the deputy director for digital health and care on the need for digital inclusion for patients to be an essential consideration in the Scottish Government's approach.

That need was highlighted in the recently published Digital Health and Care Strategy – 'Care in the Digital Age' – covering delivery plans for 2024-2025 that will support the NHS to offer new or enhanced services through improved systems, infrastructure, and better access.

The strategy includes ambitions to enhance digital access, digital services, digital foundations, digital skills, and data while outlining progress in areas such as the collection of real-time data, remote monitoring, and digital maturity assessments.

Graham continued: “A vital step on the road to creating a world class digitally-led operating environment is successfully fostering digital inclusion across the country, and enabling NHS Scotland to achieve maximum engagement with its expanding online services.

“The benefits then trickle down into other areas – reducing Scotland’s carbon footprint and responding to the climate emergency through less in-person appointments, digital prescribing, and remote monitoring capabilities which empower people to manage their own health, while promoting wider choice.

“We stand on the cusp of great opportunity, but it must also be rolled out correctly.”