Tim Woolliscroft AKA DigitalTIm

The NHS Must Change To Survive.


The message the NHS must change to survive is at the core of the UK Labour Party’s healthcare strategy and its related consultation campaign. I find it interesting that some of the conclusions that the current Labour government are reaching align with conclusions I reached during my PhD.

Prior to starting my PhD It had appeared to me that the main arguments being made about the NHS were

1 – The NHS is sacred as it is
2 – The NHS is inefficient and unviable and so must be privatised

My thinking was and still is that the NHS is very important (it saved my life FFS) – but its not going to survive if its stays the same. Significant change, some of it enabled by digital tech has the potential to create a significantly improved NHS that remains publicly owned and free at the point of delivery. I’m very pleased to see that a decade later the UK Labour party has finally reached the same conclusion. This realisation was one of my main motivations for starting my PhD in the first place.

I’m also very pleased to see both digital technology and a focus on prevention at the core of their strategy. The need to combine both was a key part of the conclusion I reached in my study. From my PhD research and subsequent public sector information systems consultancy I am aware that there are vast challenges that need to be overcome and much that could go wrong.

If you live in the UK and have not yet completed the NHS consultation on the NHS I encourage you to do so – I believe its important. Also, and this may be a bit of a long shot, but if you know anyone that can help introduce me to people that could enable me to get more fully involved in that conversation then let me know. The UK Government has apparently issued a rallying cry to the nation to help fix NHS. Well I’d love to, but beyond completing the consultation document I’m not sure how. If you have any ideas do let me know.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-issues-rallying-cry-to-the-nation-to-help-fix-nhs?fbclid=IwY2xjawGOLnZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYCKUtavOpHpYmrq6mwcxgb_FqiouUNyz20F5TMYh7rdS0EibYAiqDbzpA_aem_UmpCL449hHr-uQTOkxVTFw

#NHS #NHSconsultation #Healthcare #Healthreform #politics #digitalhealth

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Published by Tim Woolliscroft AKA DigitalTIm

I am a consultant and academic with an interest in how digital technology could be used to transform the world for the better. I apply creativity with an understanding of business to help organisations overcome challenges with digital transformation. Professionally, my expertise has been developed through careers in the arts, in the voluntary sector and academia. Academically, I am a polymath with a broad social science background. I have five postgraduate qualifications in: digital business, leadership, education, research methods and sociology. My PhD crossed the boundaries of digital business and digital health, I explored how digital technologies might be applied to improve healthcare efficiency. I took a systems thinking approach to unlocking the innovation of participants to help understand the problem and potential solutions. My arts background gives me a plethora of creative techniques that can be applied to digital innovation. During my management and organisational development career, I applied my creative skills to innovative projects designed to address complex health and social challenges. In management and leadership roles I developed a wide range of strategy skills including team building and change management. The combination of my management experience, creative background and study of technology gives me a unique ability to help organisations re-imagine the future and their potential role in it.

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