Gary HarroldCEO, UK & IRE Swiss Post Solutions

www.swisspostsolutions.com • info.sps.uk@swisspost.com • Tel. +44 (0)845 301 3708

DIGITAL 2020CAN PRIVATE SECTOR EXPERIENCES GUIDE THE NHS?

Gary Harrold, CEO of Swiss Post Solutions UK, explores learnings that the NHS could take from private sector organisations that are further along on their digital journeys.

Although there are clear differences between the private sector and the NHS, the high level drivers for digitisation are similar; improved access to and control of information, better customer (patient) experience, improved productivity and reduced costs.

That the business world is slightly ahead of the NHS, is partly due to digital start-ups putting pressure on traditional businesses to modernise, but the journey started with pragmatic management decision making about where to focus. Return on investment (ROI) is king in business, so it’s not surprising that digitisation is prioritised in areas where it will deliver the most impact, most quickly; these tend to be customer centric activities, where multiple departments are involved, like customer services. This end to end, process by process approach is common across most sectors where having a tight focus means stakeholders share the same objectives, decisions get made more quickly, results can be measured and lessons can be learned before moving to the next process. These same principles could be applied in the NHS.

Historically within the NHS, departmental projects that tick a box against a digitisation strategy rarely generate genuine performance improvement. Identifying and prioritising the patient processes for digitisation based on ROI delivers better outcomes right across the process (including communications) for both the individual Trusts and the patient. This is a view that’s supported by independent reviewer Robert Wachter, who takes the pragmatic view that Digital 2020 may be an impossible target, but “the goal is improvement, facilitated by having information where it’s needed, when it’s needed.”

Customer processes are a priority The ability to create a 360° customer view is a holy grail for businesses like retail banking and insurance. Digitisation has helped them unlock information, breakdown functional silos and create customer centric views of every transaction and touchpoint.Operationally that means increased responsiveness and more

satisfied customers; strategically it means better insight to inform planning. In an NHS context this translates to patient centricity, where access to a single patient record, shared by multiple NHS organisations and beyond, will enable faster clinical decision making, better patient care and better co-operation between agencies. Unlocking patient information that was buried in paper records, opens the door to automation using Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation, increased efficiency and the opportunity to re-direct more resources towards patient care.

End-to-end digitisation means more effective and lower cost communicationsMost commercial organisations have realised that providing a mix of physical and digital channels reduces their costs, as well as supporting customer preferences. With Did Not Attends (DNAs) costing the NHS close to £1 Billion annually and a goal to give patients and citizens more control over their health and wellbeing, there is much to be gained from a move to digital communications, beyond the savings on printing and postage. As consumers we are increasingly used to selecting a way of communicating that works for us. Offering health service users choice and the ability to set a preference, including digital communication, will allow them to find and access services more quickly and easily; something that’s evidenced already in the adoption of choose and book.

So process prioritisation is one of the most relevant learnings from the private sector. Successful projects also take into account how information is used and by whom as moving to a digital model is a cultural change as much as a technical one. Although the NHS is training a new generation of digital leaders, the front line staff shouldn’t be forgotten. Without acknowledging the cultural shift that is needed, digitisation is unlikely to generate the productivity gains which will contribute to the projected £8.5 billion savings from Digital 2020.

First published in the National Health Executive Magazine, September/October 2017