Digital health and care plan: Healthwatch response

The plan sets out how patients will receive more healthcare treatments online, enabling them to check NHS records, receive messages from their GP and attend virtual wards. Patients will also be able to manage hospital appointments, book Covid vaccines and have virtual consultations through the NHS app, which 28 million people now have, by March 2023.

Responding to the announcement, Louise Ansari, national director at Healthwatch England said:

“The digital plan is an important step to providing a better and more efficient care, and improved communication between patients and services. Improvements to the NHS app can help people be in more control of their own care while supporting the NHS’s work on early diagnosis. For example, we have already seen that there is an appetite among the thousands of people who use remote monitoring for blood pressure at home to submit readings electronically, via an app, email or website.

While the move to more digitally-led healthcare has already worked well for some people, if not delivered correctly it can create barriers for others, such as people on lower incomes, disabled people and those who don’t speak English well. As part of the digitisation plan, NHSE must ensure no one is left behind and invest in support programmes to give as many people as possible the skills and means to access remote care.

With the NHS being under intense pressure and facing staff shortages, it’s also important system leaders are given the capacity and investment needed to progress the digital transformation across their services.”

We have previously called for improvements to technology to help health and care services understand the people they provide care for, leading to more personalised care. We have also highlighted to policy makers the importance of maintaining traditional models of care alongside remote methods and to support people to choose the most appropriate appointment type to meet their needs"