The former health minister’s assessment has found that many individual organisations are still in the early stages of transformation, while even the widely adopted NHS App could improve user experience

Lord Darzi’s major review of the state of the NHS inherited by the new government has concluded that “the last decade was a missed opportunity” to adopt transformative technologies.

The report, which was commissioned shortly after the election by new health secretary Wes Streeting, finds that “parts of the NHS are yet to enter the digital era”. This is in contrast with many other areas of industry and public service.

“Over the past 15 years, many sectors of the economy have been radically reshaped by digital technologies,” the review says. “Yet the NHS is in the foothills of digital transformation. The last decade was a missed opportunity to prepare the NHS for the future and to embrace the technologies that would enable a shift in the model from ‘diagnose and treat’ to ‘predict and prevent’.”

The assessment claims that the average digital maturity score for secondary care organisations is a little over two out of five.

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Farzi finds that, while there have been some “significant investments” in tech – including the central national Federated Data Platform, as well as marked progress by many individual GP surgeries and other providers – there has been a lack of support for areas such as automation, artificial intelligence, and remote care systems.

“Technology platforms that have existed in the private sector—such as automated route planning—for more than 15 years are rarely found in the NHS,” the report says. “There are many possible technologies that would support more efficient, higher quality, safer care in the community.”

There is an overall need for “a major tilt towards technology to unlock productivity” throughout the health service, “in particular [for] the hundreds of thousands of NHS staff working outside hospitals [who] urgently need the benefits of digital systems”.

There is even scope for major improvement for a technology as widely adopted as the NHS App – which has almost 35 million registered users. But less than one in five of these use the software on at least a monthly basis, the report says.

“The NHS App is not delivering a ‘digital-first’ experience similar to that found in many aspects of daily life, although there is huge potential,” it adds. “While there been growth in ordering repeat prescriptions and managing hospital appointments, just 1% of GP appointments are managed via the app – although many book their GP appointments through other online systems. With the huge success in registrations, an important opportunity is being missed to improve both efficiency and patient experience.”