The cost of digitising the NHS is around £21bn over the next five years, according to new research.
A report from the Health Foundation has analysed the cost needed to put in the infrastructure for digital patient records, cloud storage, cyber security and Wi-Fi, as well as the cost of the skills and capabilities to use it effectively.
Debates around digitising the NHS often centre on the hardware and infrastructure, but the Health Foundation has highlighted the ongoing costs, including software subscriptions and maintenance.
A report in January found some NHS trusts still rely on fax machines, while others “are often still too reliant on paper records”.
The Health Foundation said “significant investment” will need to be made in the next five years, including £8bn in capital spending, £3bn in one-off spending and £2bn in annual costs.
Several attempts to digitise the health service have been made – and subsequently abandoned – over the years due to spiralling costs.
A plan to create the world’s largest single civilian computer system, linking all parts of the NHS was launched in 2002 and dismantled just over a decade later – despite already costing more than £10bn.
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The doomed National Programme for IT had been in disarray for several years before the plug was finally pulled.
The programme had originally been budgeted at around £6bn.
‘Reform or die’
The prime minister has previously said the NHS must “reform or die” in the wake of a damning report from Lord Darzi into the state of the health service.
The report – ordered by Health Secretary Wes Streeting days after he took on the role – concluded the health service was in “critical condition” with record waiting lists, and the health of the nation significantly deteriorating in the last 15 years.
Keir Starmer has previously promised to move from an “analogue to a digital NHS” however, a recent report from the Public Accounts Committee has warned “the switch to digital in parts of the NHS has been glacially slow”.
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‘Reform or die’: Can technology save the NHS?
This is in part because money intended for technology has been redirected to plug spending deficits elsewhere.
