Department of Health launches NHSX to lead on NHS IT

NHSX will report to the health secretary and oversee the work of NHS Digital and NHS Improvement

Health secretary Matt Hancock has announced NHSX, an organisation intended to oversee and help develop IT within the NHS.

The new organisation will set national policy and set best practice for technology across the NHS, including standards setting, data sharing and transparency. A key requirement will be to ensure interoperability across both the health and broader care systems, as well as supporting the use of new technologies by the NHS.

It will also oversee the work of NHS Digital and work closely with the Government Digital Service and other parts of central government to ensure a degree of alignment across Whitehall.

Other elements of its remit include:

• Helping to improve clinical care with agile, user-focused projects;
• Supporting the use of new technologies by the NHS, both by working with industry and via its own prototyping and development capability;
• Ensuring that common technologies and services, such as Hancock's NHS App, can be used across the NHS and various NHS organisations;
• Making sure that all source code is open by default so that contractors can easily see what needs to be done;
• Reforming procurement to help the NHS to buy the right technology based on standards, streamlined spend controls and new procurement frameworks;
• Setting a national strategy for cyber security standards; and,
• Developing digital training and skills.

The CEO of NHSX will have responsibility for setting the national direction on technology across the health sector and will be accountable to the health secretary, as well as the CEOs of NHS England and NHS Improvement.

"We've set out a clear tech vision for the NHS, which underpins our NHS Long Term Plan. Now we're bringing together the tech leadership into NHSX, which will be responsible for harnessing the true potential of technology to transform care, save lives, free up clinicians' time and empower patients to take greater control of their own health," said Hancock.

He added: "This is just the beginning of the tech revolution, building on our Long Term Plan to create a predictive, preventative and unrivalled NHS."

However, it's hard to see what NHSX does, or will do, that NHS Digital (and NHS Improvement) can't or doesn't, and there is a risk that a significant overlap between the two organisations will develop from the start.

TechMarketView's Dale Peters suggested that the "introduction of NHSX obviously raises questions about the future role of NHS Digital", but added: "NHSX will act as the commissioner for NHS Digital's work, so we may see some changes in strategic direction longer term, but its statutory position will not change, and the initiative has been welcomed by its CEO Sarah Wilkinson".