Roula Khalaf, the Editor of the Financial Times, has curated her favorite stories in this week's newsletter, shedding light on a pressing issue within the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Despite a substantial investment reaching billions of pounds in the rollout of electronic patient records (EPRs), a significant number of frontline healthcare staff are struggling to utilize these systems effectively. This concern has been highlighted in a recent report published by the Health Foundation, a prominent think tank focused on healthcare issues.

The report indicates that a small fraction of NHS organizations are facing difficulties in using EPRs entirely, while a larger group has not yet tapped into the full potential of these digital systems. This situation raises critical questions about the efficiency of such a major technological investment aimed at enhancing healthcare delivery.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has identified the transition from “analogue to digital” as one of three key transformations necessary for improving the NHS's service delivery. Streeting’s commitment highlights the urgent need for systemic change within the healthcare framework.

Malte Gerhold, the director of innovation and improvement at the Health Foundation, remarked, “The biggest opportunities for improving NHS productivity over the next few years will probably come from getting more out of tech that is already in the system.” Gerhold emphasized the importance of EPRs, calling them one of the NHS's most significant recent technological investments. He urged government officials and health leaders to create a comprehensive strategy to ensure EPRs are functioning optimally.

The findings of the Health Foundation report, which were shared with the Financial Times, unveiled that inadequate training and insufficient funding for staff education on these systems have posed considerable challenges in the EPR implementation. This lack of proper training is particularly concerning given the critical role that electronic health records play in modern healthcare.

Since the early 2000s, various governments have consistently championed the rollout of electronic health records, aiming to enhance the accessibility of patient information across different branches of the NHS. However, previous reports by the Financial Times have identified systemic issues, including a significant lack of interoperability among the various patient record systems utilized in hospitals. This has led to severe consequences, such as mislabelled blood samples and cases of patient misidentification, threatening both patient safety and the efficiency of care.

While a promising 90 percent of NHS trusts have adopted these electronic systems, the report uncovered a prevailing “scepticism” among industry stakeholders and healthcare professionals regarding the tangible benefits being derived from EPRs at this time. Many practitioners believe that these systems have been poorly implemented and are primarily being used for their most basic functionalities.

Furthermore, the funding landscape for EPRs appears fragmented, with individual trusts often procuring their own systems. Government allocations for such services are sporadic, typically occurring every few years, which complicates the funding process for trusts seeking to implement these technologies effectively. In the 2024 spring Budget, the previous Conservative government pledged a substantial £2 billion toward NHS IT systems, including EPRs, with some individual trusts reportedly investing hundreds of millions in these systems.

However, the Health Foundation cautioned that merely procuring and installing EPR systems is just the beginning; trusts must develop comprehensive plans to fully realize the advantages of digital records in alignment with a national strategy. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged the substantial challenges highlighted in the report, noting, “This report reveals the scale of the challenge we inherited and how far there is to go in modernizing the health service.” The spokesperson reiterated the government’s commitment to ushering the NHS into the digital age by investing in the necessary equipment and technology to enhance productivity.