UK trade association publishes report to accelerate digitisation of healthcare sector

UK’s trade association, techUK, issued a report titled ‘Ten Point Plan for Healthtech to accelerate the digitisation of the health and care sector’, which provides 10 recommendations for public sector stakeholders to ensure that digital technology is at the forefront of improving outcomes for patients and transforming how care is delivered in the country. The plan outlines a set of priorities for transforming from industry, focusing on empowering the public, embedding standards and interoperability, digitising social care, and more. Among other recommendations, it urges NHS Digital and NHSX, the UK government’s health agencies focusing on digitisation and innovation, to apply an international, open standards first approach as it develops national assets and infrastructure. Moreover, it recommends the Department of Health and Social Care to centrally mandate, assess, and enforce the use of interoperability standards through NHS and NHS Digital.