Digitisation is not a policy panacea, but it could be transformative
Virtual wards have been touted for years, where patients can recover in their own homes, but we never quite delivered it (Alamy)
4 min read
It is time for the government to interact with its citizens in the same way that companies interact with their customers.
Labour Party conference made clear that public service ‘renewal’ is central to the Prime Minister’s governing thesis.
Keir Starmer has frequently argued that delivery will define whether this government succeeds or not, and his speech in Liverpool showed he will rely on public sector digitisation to achieve policy aims in two important areas: immigration and health.
Here, Labour is meeting voters where they are: polling consistently finds that health and immigration, alongside the economy, are voters’ primary concerns.
Digitisation is not a policy panacea for a government facing several pressing problems. But it does have the potential to be transformational, for productivity, as well as trust in politics and public services.
The new ‘NHS Online’ hospital intends to cut waiting times and reduce pressures on physical services. This finally addresses a truth that many have been struggling to accept – more money and beds won’t mean more patients treated or better care.
The “right drift” phenomenon, where care continues to drift towards hospitals rather than care in the community, suggests we fill the beds we have, and admission doesn’t always lead to better outcomes.
Virtual wards have been touted for years, where patients can recover in their own homes, but we never quite delivered it.
This announcement is the latest in a long line of promises, but we are finally moving forward – frankly, the government cannot deliver its 10 Year Health Plan without also embracing digitisation.
Digitisation is so widespread across the private sector that the state’s sluggish progress in the last decade looks all the more curious. Millions can expect food to arrive on their doorstep within minutes of an order and for their future orders to be optimised to their preferences.
But anyone accessing social care services will fill in a mountain of paperwork and wait months for care to commence. It’s hardly surprising that public services are seen as broken – it’s time for government to interact with its citizens in the same way that companies interact with their customers.
The system that this government is seeking to transform, where various forms of paper ID are used, often in a confusing, ill-considered combination, already excludes many. UK citizens already have, among others, a passport number, an NHS number, a driving licence, and a National Insurance number. Unifying these under one digital identity would provide clarity within a widely confusing system – and include more people than it excludes.
With that in mind, the possibility of digital exclusion, while important, should not be a prohibitive factor. The real challenge is in delivery. The rate of failure in digital transformation across the public and private sectors is startlingly high – around 80 per cent – so political will and a commitment to digital transformation alone is not sufficient.
The UK does, however, have a history of success here: the establishment of the Government Digital Service in 2012 is considered the gold standard in public service digitisation and replicated across the world.
During the pandemic, while hospitals were crumbling under Covid’s considerable weight, most schools eventually managed a successful transition to online learning, and GPs held consultations by phone and video calls. The impacts are enduring: the NHS app remains a shining light amid widespread failure in the public realm, with over 12m users in August. The pandemic showed us what Whitehall could achieve with intense focus, and digitisation can be similar.
The Prime Minister knows that he cannot achieve his aims, politically and otherwise, without delivery. Announcing digitisation in health and immigration, two of his most important policy areas, shows this.
By embracing digitisation, he will unlock the tools to deliver that the administration has been lacking to date.
Antonio Weiss is a senior partner at The Public Service Consultants and a former adviser to Keir Starmer.
