As reported by Digital Health, Keir Starmer launches public consultation to shape the NHS’s future, focusing on a shift from analogue to digital healthcare systems
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, said that the NHS must make “much more use of technology”, as he launched a consultation on the future of the health service.
Speaking at an event in east London on 21 October 2024, Starmer said: “We need to go from analogue to digital, we need to use much better technology, whether that is in the ambulance service, in our hospitals, in our neighbourhoods, making much more use of technology.”
Starmer invited members of the public, NHS staff and experts to share their views, ideas and experiences via the Change.NHS.uk online platform to help inform the 10-year health plan, which is due to be published in spring 2025.
Wes Streeting, health secretary, said that the “analogue NHS” needs to shift to become a system which is “not just benefiting from but driving the revolution in data, life sciences and med tech”.
A press release, published on 21 October 2024, also announced plans for a single patient record – also known as a ‘digital patient passport’ – which will summarise all of a patient’s health information, test results and letters in the NHS App.
Streeting first announced the plan to create a single patient data record at the Royal College of General Practitioners Conference in Liverpool on 4 October 2024.