Research published by BRC staff highlights the factors that need to be in place for an organisation to thrive in digital health research and computational medicine.
The research should benefit any NHS organisation wanting to develop and implement new digital and data-based approaches to care and research.
New technologies, including electronic healthcare records and use of digital-based research tools and infrastructure, have enormous potential to transform patient care and research.
The paper, published in the journal Digital Health, is based on in-depth interviews with more than 40 staff in a large NHS hospital / university partnership which is introducing digital strategies and capabilities as part of a broad research hospital vision.
It concludes that having a clear vision for digital innovation, data-driven care and research, translating this vision into actionable work plans, and engaging all staff in digital transformation are all vital.
The paper identifies several ‘institutional readiness’ factors that it said are crucial to successful digital transformation for research. These include:
- Having a clear, long-term vision for digital transformation
- Having staff with the right expertise and the ability to develop the workforce
- Having the right technical capabilities including IT systems
- Having the ability to adapt to change as an organisation.
The experiences and challenges identified in the paper are intended to enable hospital leaders and innovators elsewhere successfully drive change.
