Department of Health sets out 'technology revolution' for 2014-15

Department wants to change the way it uses technology and data to improve quality or care, and help people manage their own healthcare

The Department of Health (DoH) has set out its plans for the next year, including how it will use technology and information in order to "enable more efficient and joined up working across the health and care system".

In the DoH's Corporate Plan, under the heading ‘technology revolution', the department explains how it wants to change the way it uses technology and information in order to improve quality of care, and help people manage their own healthcare.

To achieve this, the department has set out goals for each quarter in 2014-2015.

In the first quarter it aims to "set direction for Secretary of State's 2014-2015 technology deliverables and establish a National Information Board and sub-groups to develop a strategic decision-making and commissioning forum".

In the second quarter it wants to complete the audit of DoH transactional services against the government's Digital by Default service standard, and produce an action plan to align all services to that standard.

In the third quarter, the DoH wants to complete the migration of all relevant arm's length bodies' websites to the single government domain GOV.UK. It hopes to publish comparable data on volumes, costs and digital take-up of online and offline health transactions.

The DoH then wants to publish the National Information Board Informatics Strategy, and introduce tests to ensure that all online services for the public meet the government's minimum digital standards.

In the final quarter, the government aims to deliver up to 8,000 whole genome sequences as part of the Prime Minister David Cameron's long-term ‘100k genomes project'. It states that it will use this technology to enable the transformation of health outcomes for patients with rare diseases and cancer.

The DoH also wants to "deliver on the Prime Minister's commitment to offer £100m to the NHS for nurses and midwives to spend on new technology that will free up time for patient care".

It also aims to ensure the delivery of the Secretary of State's commitments on e-Referrals, e-Booking and online booking of prescriptions as well as patient access to primary care records.

Finally, the Department of Health wants to include data from a broader range of healthcare settings in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), in order to improve research on health outcomes.

The department has appointed Will Cavendish as director general with responsibility for innovation, growth and technology. Cavendish was previously the director general of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).