Cybersecurity strategy among dozens of tech promises missed by government

The government has failed to meet most of its own deadlines for commitments to improve how the NHS uses data, including developing a cybersecurity strategy, HSJ can reveal.

The delays include work to store and analyse patient data more securely, building public trust in the NHS’ use of patient data, and agreeing national strategies on cybersecurity and cloud technology.

The strategy and its commitments were published following the Goldacre Review, which called for an overhaul of how NHS patient data is collected, stored and used.

It came after the government was forced to indefinitely halt a controversial plan to collect all GP-held patient data in 2021, which resembled the fate of a similar data scheme in 2016.

Several data projects have also come under scrutiny from doctors and campaigners in recent years, such as NHS England’s procurement of a new Federated Data Platform and a much-criticised trust’s data-sharing scheme with a credit rating company.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 28 February 2023