A digitally enabled health and care system – the latest blog from Sue Symington

On 6 November we held our third Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System Symposium.

The purpose of the symposia is to bring together the widest possible group of leaders in our integrated care system- exposing them to shared new thinking, to innovation and  inspiration in our collective work to improve the health and wellbeing of the 1.7 million people in Humber and North Yorkshire, who rely on our joint leadership in respect of their future health and care.

Previous symposia have included Ageing Well and the important Child of the North research. At this symposium we were focussed on deepening understanding and the opportunities which ‘A Digitally Enabled Health and Care System’ will create for our population.

In particular we had three aims for this event. The first to engage the curiosity of attendees, by providing some “new-thinking”, the second to stimulate the new-thinking as we shift from analogue to digital across health and care, and the third to introduce attendees to pioneering thought-leaders in the field of digitally enabled health and care.

We were pleased and proud that our event was opened and introduced by Lord Victor Adebowale, Chair of the NHS Confederation. Victor served for six years as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of NHS England.  

Thanks to our well-connected digital team we were pleased to welcome four outstanding speakers:

• Mark Davies, Chief Health Officer at IBM
• Prof. Daan Dohmen, Co-founder at Luscii
• Dr Simon Wallace, CMIO at Microsoft UK, and
• Rachel Dunscombe, CEO at OpenEHR.

Each speaker was charged with answering the same question!

“Looking ahead to the next 5-10 years, how can we ensure that emerging digital technologies are successfully integrated into health and care systems to improve patient outcomes, while also making sure that digitally enabled care remains equitable, accessible, and sustainable for everyone?”

Our speakers all responded to the question posed from their particular perspectives, sharing three very noticeable traits of openness, a willingness to share, and humility. Each debunked any concerns that the move towards a digitally enabled health and care service would de-personalise health care, in fact quite the opposite- the crucial shift towards digitally enabled healthcare will personalise care and enable citizens to engage much more fully with their own health and wellbeing.

The event, and the glimpse it provided into the future of heathcare, was inspiring for all attendees.

In a world where the NHS faces the most challenging of times, this event provided a compelling vision for the future of health and care, shining a bright light of optimism on the emerging use of digitally enabled heathcare.