In response to a review of the U.K's National Health Service by Bob Wachter, MD, a U.S.-based physician and digital health expert, England is expanding the digital health technology offerings available to up-and-coming healthcare professionals.
"Bob Wachter's excellent review made it clear that digitization is as much about people as it is technology, and that this is a real opportunity to improve patient care for the long term," Jeremy Hunt, NHS health secretary, said in a statement. "We want to fast track existing digital excellence, as well as nurture new skills and expertise that we will need to deliver a new breed of digitized services."
As part of the increased focus the NHS plans to put on building out digital health, it is seeking to enroll universities to take part in a "digital academy" that will be open to CIOs and young health IT professionals for advancing digital healthcare.
In another arm of the project, the NHS will grant 10 million pounds to a dozen U.K.-based trusts that will use the funds to "deliver pioneering approaches to digital services and help others…learn from their experience," according to the federal U.K. government website.