The Download: NHS digital safety is built on sand (HSJ, 26 August)

Summary

Do NHS organisations have enough staff, with the right skills and expertise, to vet new digital technologies before they are deployed on the shop floor?

A report from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body on advice and guidance unearthed some uncomfortable truths about digital clinical safety assurance.

Among its findings was that providers deploying the electronic referral service (e-RS), which hosts A&G, could not evidence compliance with a key digital clinical risk management stanardard.

Dean Mawson, founder of DPM Digital Health and national CSO training lead, told The Download that with the average trust running upwards of 200 digital health systems, a single full-time CSO would struggle to do their job properly. 

One of the reasons for this is that most CSOs hold the title in addition to a clinical day job. Sometimes, senior figures like chief clinical or nursing information officers are expected to become CSOs too.

Youssof Oskrochi, one of the paper’s authors and a CSO himself, told The Download that this part-time, bolted-on approach underappreciates what work goes into digital clinical safety assurance.

He said: “AI is a black box, EPRs are complex, a lot of the technology now has generative AI or large language models in. You need at least some expertise to understand the technical features of this product.

“If you’re expecting someone to put [a safety case] out on half a day a week, you either have to expect that’s going to take a long time, or you’re going to have to compromise on quality.”

Further reading on the hub:

• Advice and guidance services: Patient Safety Learning’s response to the latest HSSIB report