In September, the government published its independent investigation led by Professor Lord Darzi into the NHS. The report assessed patient access, quality of healthcare provision and overall performance of the NHS.
The report notes that over the past 15 years, whilst other sectors have been “radically reshaped” by digital technologies, Lord Darzi states that the NHS is “in the foothills of digital transformation” and highlights the last decade in particular as a missed opportunity to prepare the NHS for the future by embracing technology and its ability to support a pivot from a ‘diagnose and treat’ model to one focused on ‘prediction and prevention’.
The report calls for a shift in the distribution of resources towards community-based primary, community and mental health services. It cites that many productivity problems in the NHS are caused by interaction between different parts of the system, and highlights congestion in acute hospitals as an example, that the “only sustainable solution” here is to “build up the capacity, capability, infrastructure and technology base of care that is delivered in the community, including general practice, community services and mental health services”.
OX.DH’s cloud-native solutions directly address the disjointed islands of systems, data, and paper records that currently slow down NHS operations and hinder holistic patient care. Our solutions leverage the underutilised NHS Microsoft Azure asset, part of the 2023 NHS £800 million five-year commitment to Microsoft. Key here, is health and care providers can start their journey incrementally, moving to digital tools and infrastructure by pathway, clinic or care setting.
By integrating seamlessly with existing NHS infrastructures, health and care providers can move away from scattered and disjointed systems towards a holistic view of a patient health journey.
Why OX.DH? Our core solutions include:
- OX.general practice (OX.gp): Part of the NHS Tech Innovation Framework, OX.gp disrupts the legacy primary care IT systems (EMIS/TPP), providing a modern alternative that is faster to implement and easier to scale.
- OX.waiting room (OX.wr): Enhances virtual consultations, reducing waiting times and making access to care easier for patients.
- OX.patient consent (OX.pc): A scalable digital platform for secure consent management, integrating both clinical and research applications.
- OX.assisted reproduction (OX.ar): Transforming IVF clinics with an end-to-end digital solution, supporting efficiency and better patient care.
Being successful. Infrastructure and integration.
In realising the ambitions set out in Lord Darzi’s report, we believe it’s key to focus on improving systems, embracing open solutions and platforms, and to have an agile way of developing applications and pathways incrementally.
To truly realise the shift, cloud-native solutions can support the integration of primary care and secondary care. If your vision is to work towards an unbroken patient record, then we need to deliver platforms that can deliver across care providers.
For example, our work with Barnsley Hospital has shown how digital innovations can improve both patient and clinician experiences, reducing waiting times and improving care delivery. Our virtual consultations platform supports Barnsley Hospital with video and telephone consultations, as part of its delivery of more than 300,000 outpatient appointments per year.
Innovating the assisted reproduction pathway, our work with The Male Fertility Clinic supports streamlined appointment booking and test results processes for staff and patients, automating previously manual processes including online patient registration, electronic pre-health questionnaires, reports, and test results, reducing the administrative burden for staff and improving the patient experience.
Innovating primary care, our work collaborating with practices as part of the NHS Tech Innovation Framework early adopter programme, will see OX.gp launched in early 2025.
We would love to talk, reach out to arrange a discussion.