NHS England launches tech trials to boost health and care connectivity

NHS England is supporting the trials to ensure health and care organisations make the most out of current and emerging wireless technology to deliver digital healthcare services.

Funding applications for proposals that aim to improve connectivity in the health and care setting or maximise efficiency of existing digital infrastructure are open via the Connectivity Hub.

Previous wireless trials include the development of University College London Hospitals’ Find and Treat service, which uses high-tech tools and software to provide real-time remote diagnosis and referrals on board a mobile health unit. The service provides remote screening, testing and treatment for vulnerable, homeless, and high-risk people in London.

Another trial led to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust becoming the first 5G-connected hospital in the UK. The trial gave clinicians access to digital innovations such as the eObs app (eObservations), which enables the use of handheld devices to update patient records digitally and make live observations.

This new Wireless Trials programme will provide NHS organisations with the capability it needs to deliver its challenging digital ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Successful trial applicants will benefit from funding for their project, advice and guidance from NHS England, and the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded organisations on Wi-Fi improvement projects powered by innovation.

NHS England will also capture best practice from successful trialists and share this across the wider NHS to enable scaled learning.

Stephen Koch, Executive Director of Platforms, NHS England, said:

“Wireless technology has an increasingly important role to play in delivering effective and efficient digital health services to provide the best care for patients.

“The wireless trials are designed to help the NHS understand how existing and emerging Wi-Fi solutions can support the delivery of better health and social care across the wider NHS.

“We look forward to working with successful trialists to explore opportunities for wireless technologies and high-speed connectivity that take another step forward in digital transformation and in improving patient care.”

The wireless trials applications will run from Summer 2023 and will be reviewed throughout the year on a rolling basis.

Applicants will need to provide an overview of their wireless project and objectives, the anticipated outcome and impact for delivery of health or social care, as well as the healthcare need or technological challenge they are seeking to overcome.

Visit the Connectivity Hub for more information and how to apply.

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Apply now to join NHS wireless tech trials

The application process is now open for our wireless trials, designed to support NHS organisations explore pioneering ideas and new opportunities for wireless technologies that could help transform patient care.

We invite organisations who are currently considering or in the process of introducing creative Wi-Fi solutions that address connectivity challenges in health and social care to apply.

Successful trial applicants will benefit from funding for their venture, advice and guidance from NHS England, and the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded organisations on Wi-Fi improvement projects powered by innovation.

Find out more and apply.

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New materials to help you promote the NHS App to your patients

The revamped toolkit helps you to encourage your patients to use the NHS App, including materials to promote ordering repeat prescriptions.  

The toolkit contains posters and leaflets for your pharmacy, which can also be printed in black and white. There are also images for your TV screens, social media and website. 

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Additional information for GP practice managers – August 2023

An updated paper patient registration form is available to all GP practices offering the Register with a GP surgery online service. The new form uses the same standardised question set as the online service and can be used instead of the GMS1 form.

Register with a GP surgery is a free service for GP practices to use and is also available in the NHS App. It is reducing variation in patient experience and has been designed using feedback from patients and practices.

Find out more about both registration formats and how to enrol in the service.

The revamped toolkit helps you to encourage your patients to use the NHS App.  

The toolkit contains posters and leaflets for your practice, that can also be printed in black and white. There are images for your practice's TV screens, social media and website. You can also find messaging templates to help explain to your patients how the NHS App can benefit them. 

We are developing new online services to make it easier for patients and staff to manage proxy access requests. The services will:

  • help people with parental responsibility apply for proxy access to online health services on behalf of a child
  • conduct relationship and safeguarding checks before allowing this access

To make sure the services meet your needs, we are looking for people who deal with proxy access requests (such as processing and approving requests) to complete a survey and/or take part in a research interview.

Please sign up if you’re interested in taking part in either the survey or the interviews. If you have any questions you can contact simon.hurst3@nhs.net.

We have teamed up with Good Things Foundation to publish 10 top tips for supporting digital inclusion in general practice to help you work with local community organisations to make services more inclusive for all.  

From help identifying patients facing digital exclusion to practical solutions, the top tips draw on work by 30 primary care, community and voluntary sector organisations in England.

User researcher Fern Williams describes how we created a new paper patient registration form to complement the online ‘Register with a GP surgery’ service, allowing everyone to have a consistent user experience and leaving no one digitally excluded.

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For action: New National Data Sharing Arrangement (NDSA) for GP Connect

The new GP Connect NDSA sets out the data sharing requirements and obligations for the use of GP Connect.  

If your practice uses GP Connect, there are actions you must take to satisfy the NDSA by 18 September 2023.

Find out what you need to do.

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Event: NHS Spine supplier event in Leeds

Are you a supplier who accesses or consumes NHS products and services? Do you integrate with our core Spine products, such as our MESH (Message Exchange for Social Care), Event Management Service (NEMS), Spine Directory Service (SDS) or National Record Locator (NRL)? 

If so, please join us at our Leeds office (7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP) on Friday September 15 from 10am to 1pm.

The aim of this session is to understand how you use these products, the barriers or challenges you face in gaining access, the gaps you would like us to address and what you would like us to focus on in the future.

Product owners, subject matter experts and members from the wider Spine Futures team will be attending, and we will explore the following themes across our product set:

  • onboarding and assurance

  • sharing data

  • technical integration

If you are interested in joining the discussion and helping shape our future direction, please register your interest by 17 August.

We are limited for space so, should we be oversubscribed, we may limit attendance per organisation.  We hope to be able to accommodate everyone who wants to attend but we will confirm on 18 August if you have a place.

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For action: Update on next steps to switch on access to online GP records

You can request EMIS to automatically enable your patients access to their records. This will save you considerable time, as the alternative will be to enable each patient record individually.

There are only 2 sessions remaining in September and October where EMIS are running these ‘bulk enablement’ processes for participating practices. To add your practice to the list, please book a slot as soon as possible.

You can update your system yourself by following this user guide (FutureNHS login required). St Chad’s and Chilcompton Surgery has already used the guide and reported it took about an hour and was easy to follow. Our support team is available to help you.

The updated GP contract requires all practices to provide their patients with online access to new (prospective) health information in their GP records (unless exceptions apply) by 31 October 2023. 

The only exceptions are people who have asked to opt out or individuals identified as at risk. This means the application of SNOMED CT exclusion (104) code should only be applied to those individuals.

More information about enabling access can be found on the NHS Digital website. If you need any help or advice, you can contact our dedicated support team.

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Additional information for digital leaders – August 2023

We are working with the British Computer Society to develop draft role profiles for several IT operations and technical job families. To help shape and define the profiles further, we are inviting feedback from colleagues working across these roles.

You can access the profiles and feedback form on the FEDIP Hub (registration is required).

Yinka Makinde, Director of Digital Workforce at NHS England is joined by Dr Navina Evans, Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer at NHS England, to discuss the upcoming Digital Workforce Plan and the significant role it will play alongside the newly published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. 

Listen to Building a sustainable health and care workforce, now and in the future.

An updated paper patient registration form is available to all GP practices offering the Register with a GP surgery online service. The new form uses the same standardised question set as the online service and can be used instead of the GMS1 form.

Register with a GP surgery is a free service for GP practices to use and is also available in the NHS App. It is reducing variation in patient experience and has been designed using feedback from patients and practices.

Find out more about both registration formats and how to enrol in the service.

The revamped toolkit helps to encourage patients to use the NHS App. The toolkit contains posters and leaflets, images for social media and websites, and messaging templates to help explain to patients how the NHS App can benefit them.

Please share the toolkit among your network to help promote the NHS App.

Most prescriptions are still paper-based in secondary care. Business analyst Andy Harrison describes the technical groundwork we’ve laid to allow these settings to go digital.

Susie Day, Programme Director for the NHS App, looks at what’s changed since the app’s launch in January 2019 and how its services are evolving post-COVID.

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