Government to axe NHSX and NHS Digital

Digital leadership is currently split across NHSE, NHSX and NHS Digital

The UK government will scrap both NHSX and NHS Digital, merging them into a new body known as NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) as part of a major restructuring.

NHSX is responsible for user experience; it is responsibile for setting national policy and developing best practice for NHS technology, including data sharing and transparency. NHS Digital is the actual provider of tech and digital systems across the NHS.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has accepted the recommendations of Laura Wade-Gery, non-executive director at NHS England and chair of NHS Digital, to incorporate the two tech bodies into NHSE/I.

'The recommendations build on the huge progress made on digital transformation during the pandemic, following a commission by the Secretary of State in summer 2020, and will improve co-operation between the key digital bodies of the NHS by bringing them under one roof for the first time,' the government said.

The intent behind the merge is to bring both NHS tech bodies together, making it easier to drive the Service's digital transformation agenda.

The changes will also ensure that health and care sector is fully equipped to face the future and deliver for patients.

Matthew Gould, CEO of NHSX, said in an internal email that the merger of the two tech bodies would "enable the NHS to drive the people-centred, digitally-enabled, data-driven vision for which we have been advocating".

He added that NHS Digital's interim CEO, Simon Bolton, would become the CIO of NHS England and report to Tim Ferris, director of transformation at NHSE/I, according to The Register.

NHSE/I leads the NHS service in England - serving as the key interface between the organisation and the government.

The shake-up of the health service's IT bodies was first hinted last week, when Sajid Javid said in a conference for NHS care providers that it was "odd" that "digital leadership is currently split across NHSE, NHSX and NHS Digital".

The National Audit Office (NAO) - the independent public spending watchdog - also expressed concerns last year over multiple issues with the model.

In July, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, ordered a review into digital transformation in the NHS to find out how NHS Digital, NHSX, and NHSE/I could work together to drive digital transformation in the health service.

Laura Wade-Gery led the review, with the responsibility to determine key capabilities and the digital operating model required across the three agencies to drive the digital system transformation envisioned in the NHS Long Term Plan.

NHS Digital recently faced criticism when its proposed GP data sharing scheme was halted due to opposition from campaigners, the public and GP groups.

NHS Digital announced the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) scheme in May. At the time, the government said it would enable GPs to transfer data from patient records in England in 'near real time'.

In June Alex Norris, shadow minister for primary care, wrote to NHS Digital chief Sarah Wilkinson, stating that while he supported the principle of sharing patients' data with other agencies to improve health care, the rollout "must be built on trust".

Norris noted that there were serious questions for NHS Digital to answer, including which organisations would access the data and for what purposes, what safeguards were put in place to protect patient data, and how patients who chose to opt out of the programme could be allowed to block sharing of future data and remove data from the collection.

Nearly 107,500 people opted out of the scheme in May, and about 1.3 million more followed in June.

The programme is currently on hold, with no new date for implementation.