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Healthier Futures - Digitally enabled primary and outpatient care

Digital technology is a significant part of our everyday lives improving the way we socialise, shop and work. It also has great potential to improve how the NHS delivers its services in a new and modern way; providing faster, safer and more convenient care. 

The NHS Long Term Plan underpins the importance of technology in the future NHS, setting out the critical priorities that will support digital transformation and provide a step-change in the way the NHS cares for citizens. In particular, it sets out how the NHS will:

  • Provide digital services and tools to give people more control over their own health and the care they receive from the NHS
  • Extend to everyone the NHS App as a new digital ‘front door’ to give people secure digital access to their own medical records; find trusted information about their health online; allow patients to conveniently book appointments and view test results online. In time it will also provide medical advice and consultations securely
  • Give health and care staff the technology they need to help them complete administrative tasks more quickly, freeing up time to spend with patients
  • Set standards that keep information secure and make sure NHS IT systems talk to each other to provide health and care staff with complete access to joined-up patient records.

Digitally-enabled care will go mainstream across the Black Country and West Birmingham

We understand that staff across health and care are supportive of enhancing access and using of digitally-enabled care. People tell us that having easy access to information to help make decisions about their health and care was the most important factor in helping them to live a healthy life.

Our vision for digitally-enabled primary and outpatient care includes:

  • Empowerment: People will access and contribute to their health and care records through technology
  • Infrastructure: Enabling access to required information to support decisions from anywhere – supporting place-based working
  • Integration: Standards and principles are necessary for our systems to work together and to break down boundaries between organisations
  • Intelligence: Supporting decision making and identifying best practice models leading to improved patient care

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