Ensuring the MPFT Digital Strategy and Transformation Plan is accurate and relevant

Contents

• The National Picture
• The Regional Picture

Digital is one of the key enablers to make sure that our health and social care services will transform over the coming years. The importance of how organisations should build digital into their care delivery has been made clear in many national reviews and strategies.

The national health and care strategies and Integrated Care System (ICS) strategies, have underpinned the development of this new digital strategy for MPFT.

The Long Term Plan (2019), the Five Year Forward View (2014), the Topol Report (2019), the NHSx Tech Plan (2020), NHSx What Good Looks Like framework (2021) and the Wachter Review of Health IT (2016) all recognise that empowering the workforce to use the full range of their skills, reducing bureaucracy, stimulating research and enabling service transformation through data and digitisation are the key goals to which the NHS, and NHS Trusts, should be looking to achieve.

Whilst the digital strategy needs to be tailored for our own organisation and its care groups, we have to ensure that what is designed and delivered locally with our service users and carers is also in alignment with both national and regional aspirations, approaches and standards.

The National Picture

NHS Long Term Plan

• Empowering People - self-care, choice
• Supporting health and care professionals – digital upskilling
• Supporting clinical care - making better use of data and digital technology
• Improving population health - preventing illness and tackling health inequalities​​​​​
• Improving clinical efficiency and safety – workflow processes, security and reliability

NHSx Tech Plan – 5 missions

• Reducing burden on workforce – focus on delivering care
• Give people the tools to access information and services directly – self-care, choice
• Ensure information is accessible – Integrated systems, remote care
• Aid the improvement of safety across health and care systems – innovation, Research and Innovation
• Improve health and care productivity with digital technology – workflow processes

Integrated Care Systems

• Build smart digital and data foundations – digital maturity and data quality, digital upskilling
• Connect health and care services – Integrated systems and a single care plan
• Use digital and data to transform care – reimagine care pathways
• Put the citizen at the centre of their care – citizen-centred data channels, access and management of own care record

Department of Health & Social Care: Future of Healthcare

• User need - self-care, choice
• Privacy and security – cyber security, data security protection
• Interoperability and openness – integrated systems and a single care plan
• Inclusion – digital inclusion and equalities, accessible systems

The MPFT Digital Strategy and Transformation Plan aims to bring these national ambitions to life for the communities we serve, tailored and prioritised by local need.

We will bring about digital change in a way that helps those we care for understand the benefits they will have from our new approaches to care. Our mission, vision, strategy and transformation plans all prioritised with reference to the national objectives.

Systemic Learning

Further to the research on national strategies, we will also ensure that we continue to learn from our colleagues across the NHS and social care as frequently and consistently as possible.

We need to learn from, and collaborate with everyone we can. All NHS Trusts, local authorities, private care and voluntary sector organisations hold valuable lessons and insights into similar challenges faced across the country.

A key mechanism for achieving this is through continued use of the Global Digital Exemplar (GDE), Digital Aspirants Portal, through Future.nhs.uk and the​​​​​ NHSx Digital Playbooks learning. 

MPFT have already benefitted through close working with Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust technical teams via virtual meetings for our consolidated RiO approach, and with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust for our learning on our therapeutic eObservations approach.

Consistent engagement and learning through collaboration are fundamental to applying lessons and expediting our own transformation schemes.

We are also new members of the Institute of Health and Social Care Management Digital Health Special Interest Group, another means of continued learning, sharing and networking.

The new block contract Integrated Care Systems (ICS) approaches to managing health and social care will only continue to help foster a collaborative, united health and social care community.

MPFT will also foster learning and collaboration opportunities through public access to our digital strategy, transformation plan, Model Health System plan and other shareable plans. We do not need to be a Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) or Digital Aspirant to gain fast followers through sharing our approach nationwide.

Some examples of how we will benefit MPFT services through our national strategy focus approach:

• Integrating Trust systems and regional platforms into the NHS App wherever possible when it is safe, secure and appropriate to do so, and our service users and carers have been notified.
• Having our MPFT Digital Transformation Plan and business cases planned in readiness for: 
  • future NHSE and NHSX and NHSD funding bids
  • future Good Things Foundation funding bids
  • future Innovation Agency/Academic Health Science Network initiatives

Model of Excellence

The national strategies articulate a clear need to review readiness in digital adoption. Both from a technical infrastructure and systems perspective, but also from a workforce and service user and carer support and skills perspective.

Our ambitions mean that benchmarking MPFT’s digital maturity against recognised national processes such as Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the NHS Improvement Model Health System approach are essential for our Trust Board, service users, carers and staff to be able to track and understand the progress we are making on our digital journey.

Through pro-active benchmarking and peer assessments we will:

• Capture and report our digital maturity and progress to improving our infrastructure and systems capabilities across the Trust
• Improve our digital upskilling and support offers through the Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) and Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO) engagement sessions, the MPFT Digital training team and the digital champions peer support group
• We will demonstrate ongoing quality improvement, digital adoption and make sure that we are alive to any future Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection assessment expectations, providing full assurance of our efforts in each key quality domain

The Regional Picture

MPFT will align and connect our systems, pool our digital assets, share our learning and co-design new digitally enabled care pathways with our regional Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Primary Care Network (PCN) partners and other ICSs across the country where MPFT provide services and where it is appropriate to do so.

We see that MPFT has a duty to collaborate, such is the breadth and national scope of our services.

The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, Derbyshire and Black Country & West Birmingham ICS strategies influence a significant proportion of our service users, carers and staff as this is where the majority of MPFT’s care activity takes place.

With key services within our Specialist Care Group operating within ICS systems outside of the Midlands, we will ensure that joining up digital systems outside of Staffordshire and Shropshire has an equal focus. This means the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & Berkshire West ICS, Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICS and Mid & South Essex ICS strategies are equally important for our digital strategy.

In addition to the ICS strategies mentioned above where we provide services, we have also engaged with ICSs from South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw, Kent & Medway, Northamptonshire and Somerset. Taking learning from local digital strategies, local authority digital strategies and digital leaders.

The research from these areas features heavily throughout our digital themes and digital strategy, influencing significantly MPFT’s own approach to transformation where there is clear alignment.