Informatics Services in Wales

Key points

• We welcome the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report which fairly reflects the current digital challenges the NHS in Wales face and provides a focus where improvements will be needed in the future and the role of the NWIS.
• The Committee and the Wales Audit Office (WAO) reports clearly set out the need for greater collaboration between Welsh Government (WG), NWIS, Health Boards, Trusts and other organisations and reflects the areas where improvements are required and will inform the future governance arrangements.
• The PAC report highlights the frustration that exists across the NHS over delays in delivering an electronic patient record as well as concerns about the resilience of core systems and reinforces the need for change while recognising some improvements that have already been made.
• Currently the NWIS has responsibility for the technical infrastructure that keeps NHS Wales digital services running. This includes 70 all-Wales systems, all designed and built to populate the electronic patient record, and two international-standard data centres, managing the connections to more than 60,000 devices across seven health boards, two trusts, 87 hospitals and over 420 GP Practices 24/7.
• At the heart of digital transformation is the understanding that the more information available to the clinician, the more accurately they are able to diagnose a problem and make an informed decision on care.
• As the Parliamentary Review highlighted the digital agenda provides significant opportunities to transform the health and social care services of the future.
• We are pleased the WG’s long-term plan for health and social care commits to a fully integrated national digital architecture, supported by significant investment, stronger national digital leadership and strengthened delivery arrangements. Our members have been proactively involved in engaging with the WG NHS Wales Informatics Governance Review and the NHS Wales Digital Architecture Review.
• We will continue to work with the WG to implement A Healthier Wales and to determine the governance and architecture we need to ensure our IT systems are fit for purpose and support new models of integrated care.