How NHSE’s new transformation directorate will operate

Six directors will lead the different units of NHS England’s new transformation directorate created by merging NHS Digital and NHSX into the organisation.

Documents obtained by HSJ show how the transformation directorate’s senior team will be structured in the interim period until NHSD and NHSX are fully merged with NHSE.

The new directorate is led by Tim Ferris, who was appointed last year as NHSE sought to speed up the digital transformation of NHS services.

The directorate has outlined 10 draft priorities for the next few years, including ambitious proposals to install electronic patient records at every NHS trust, make electronic clinical decision support systems “the norm” for clinicians, and a huge expansion of virtual wards.

The remaining seven priorities are:

• Expanding the functions and uptake of the NHS App;
• Increase diagnostics capacity;
• Data architecture and infrastructure for population health, planning and research;
• Population health and personalised prevention;
• Exploiting the NHS’s purchasing power;
• NHS as a platform for rapid cycle research and innovation; and
• Redesign pathways using digital tools.

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Source: HSJ, 8 February 2022