The great and the good convened at 1 Plough Place this morning – home of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – for the launch of a new report on how the NHS can save a whopping £20 billion (and to hear what Andrew Lansley had to say about the whole thing on behalf of the Conservatives). I’m inclined to agree with NESTA’s proposition that: “It is possible to develop cheaper, more effective patient-centred services and approaches to public behaviour change but only by adopting radical new ways of innovating within the NHS”. There’s been a prevailing shift towards consumerism in healthcare which signals opportunities to make efficiency savings while improving patient satisfaction through better online self-service systems, as well as kiosks and the like. Is this going to be the holy grail that we’ve all been looking for?
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The government’s hotly anticipated plans for reforming adult social care finally saw the light of day last week. Having launched a call for more integration of health and social care services back in March 2007, we at Intellect, were pleased to see that the burden of an ageing society and rising costs of care are finally getting some proper attention from government.

The green paper sets out plans for a National Care Service that will offer national assessment, joined-up services, information and advice, personalised care and support and fair funding. News that a Cabinet-level ministerial integration group has been set up to help drive this forward will be welcome to everyone that’s campaigned for reform. But good intentions are not enough.

Having the right technology to underpin these changes will determine whether the vision stands or falls. Various technical, commercial and cultural barriers to providing joined-up services will need to be addressed if we’re are to see the creation of a more sustainable health and social care system. That’s why we’ve launched ‘Fitting IT all Together’ which sets out the industry’s view on health and social care, and which calls for more openness and transparency, a roadmap to support joined-up working, and earlier engagement with industry.

Christine Connelly, the new(ish) CIO for Health gave her first public appearance at HC2009 this morning. Hotly anticipated to make a big announcement, she didn’t disappoint. Unveiling the government’s strategy for delivering the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the south of England following Fujitsu’s withdrawal, Connelly announced the opening up of the market with plans for 30 acute sites are to run competitions based on the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity(ASCC) – a framework agreement set up in 2007. The process is expected to last nine months, with contracts awarded for four years (making them coterminous with the existing BT/CSC contracts). This is very welcome news to members who successfully bid for a place on the catalogue but began wondering whether it was ever going to deliver any real business.

Other encouraging news came in the guise of plans to introduce new toolkits by March 2010 that will give trusts more control over local configuration of systems. Cerner and Lorenzo will create the foundations upon which trusts can innovate, in much the same way that new Facebook and iPhone applications are based on standard technology. The message was clear – “programmes of development will not be centrally dictated” – but technical standards and data standards are sure to pose some tricky questions.

Last but not least, Connelly is meeting David Behan, the Director General of Social Care at the Department of Health next week. Behan was a welcome guest at Intellect earlier this month and news that he is in discussions with Connelly about the true potential for integrating health and social care services is heartening. They will be looking at how far integration has come and how new benefits for patients can be created across all care settings, setting out the major milestones for the next 12 months.

So, despite some rather gloomy weather up here there is certainly quite a buzz. More soon.