A new report from InnoScot Health reveals that most NHS Scotland staff surveyed think that remote monitoring, big data, analytics and digital apps are essential to Scotland’s healthcare innovation.

Scotland’s Chief Scientist for Health, Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak says the response shows that staff are “keen to help identify, develop, and pioneer their integration”.

Responding to the survey commissioned by InnoScot Health – an NHS Scotland partner – many of the healthcare workers who took part agreed that big data and analytics are among the most important areas for NHS Scotland’s innovation in the future.

Of the 602 staff surveyed representing a ‘cross-section of NHS staff’, 88% ranked using gathered data to uncover sometimes hidden patterns and correlations to improve decision-making and efficiency in healthcare services, through big data analytics, as vital to the NHS.

The same proportion also ranked digital apps for sharing information with patients, care providers, clinicians and researchers as a prime focus for the workforce.

Professor Dominiczak said:

“NHS staff are very much aware of the latest innovation possibilities for healthcare improvement and, not only that, they are extremely keen to help identify, develop, and pioneer their integration.

“This survey shows that there is an undoubted appetite for innovation-led change – from the ever more detailed picture that ethical big data and analytics can offer, to the reassurance that digital apps and remote monitoring can provide to both patients and NHS staff.”

Remote monitoring – enabling healthcare delivery using the latest advances in information technology to support patient data collection outwith the usual healthcare settings – was considered one of the most important areas by 86% of staff.

The survey suggested NHS workers with 11 to 20 years’ experience are most likely (93%) to believe that remote monitoring should be a focus for the future.

Additionally, 86% of staff considered telemedicine – technology which supports video or phone appointments between a patient and healthcare practitioner – a priority for the future of NHS Scotland.

Executive Chair of InnoScot Health, Graham Watson said: “Our survey is a timely snapshot of where NHS Scotland currently stands during one of its most difficult periods.”

These findings come from a survey conducted between 3 October and 4  November 2022, which previously revealed that 9 in 10 NHS Scotland staff think innovation is essential to improve services and tackle pandemic backlogs.

Professor Dominiczak added:

“The NHS Scotland workforce evidently agrees that working smarter – using innovation to achieve more with less – is an important way to reduce waiting lists and improve patient outcomes.

“Staff also believe that the more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health which they can build up, the better. They recognise that this could offer a gateway to a more proactive approach to healthcare, including the ability to spot and predict potential issues early and treat them, in turn saving time and precious NHS resources.

“In other words, the message is clear – when a leading culture of innovation and deep workforce insight are brought together, they become powerful facilitators for an improved NHS Scotland.”

A workforce embracing innovation

In early 2018, the Scottish parliament’s Health and Sport Committee published an inquiry report into innovation in the NHS saying they had found “a culture that was reluctant to adapt new ways of working and where innovation is not encouraged and heavily out-dated IT systems still cause major barriers”.

Five years on, the survey suggests that the culture has shifted.

Around two thirds of staff (64%) in the InnoScot Health survey consider themselves to be healthcare innovators with ideas to improve the NHS, and 1 in 6 believe this is the case to a “great extent.”

Moreover, staff from Health Science Services Staff Group category are most likely to believe that ‘artificial intelligence’ – the application of machine learning algorithms and other cognitive technologies in medical settings – should be an important focus for the future.

Executive Chair of InnoScot Health, Graham Watson said the survey provides “ample evidence” of a workforce that embraces innovation:

“It provides ample evidence of an innovation-ready workforce that wants to be part of improving services for both patients and staff, including the opportunity to use their own insight and ideas to drive forward change. 

“The potential is vast, whether it is reducing current challenges, empowering patients to manage their own healthcare journey, or gaining important insights for new possibilities in diagnoses.” 

 

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