NHSE drops plans to publish a dedicated digital workforce plan 🚨 - Digital Health News - 15 May 2025
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NHSE drops plans to publish a dedicated digital workforce plan 🚨
Exclusive: NHS England has confirmed that it has dropped plans to publish a dedicated digital workforce plan which was promised in 2024.
The long-delayed plan was originally expected to be published by the end of 2023, and after it failed to materialise, Dr Vin Diwakar , national director for transformation at NHS England, said in March 2024 that the plan would be published “imminently”.
But in response to a Freedom of Information request from Digital Health News in April 2025, NHSE said that the plan “will now be incorporated in the Long Term Workforce Plan refresh due for autumn 2025″.
It added: “This reflects the direction of the current government and the inclusion of non-clinical professions in NHS workforce planning.”
Most of public think that NHS ‘single patient record’ already exists 📢
Most of the public think that a single patient record (SPR) already exists, according to research commissioned by Understanding Patient Data .
Plans for an SPR, summarising patient health information, test results, and letters through the NHS App, were announced by Wes Streeting, health secretary, in October 2024 and are expected to be central to the forthcoming 10 year health plan.
However, a survey of 1,004 people on GP record data, published by Understanding Patient Data in May 2025, found that 61% of the public believe that an SPR already exists.
NEWS
NHS England has awarded a ‘tiger teams’ contract worth £13.3 million to consultancy firm KPMG to support trusts unlikely to meet the March 2026 electronic patient record (EPR) target.
Clinical AI assistants will be made available to GP practices across the UK through a strategic partnership between TORTUS and X-on Health.
Dr Jessica Rose Morley, PhD and Dr Joe Zhang are the latest speakers confirmed for Digital Health Summer Schools 2025 to support digital leaders embedding AI ethically in healthcare.
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has signed a 10-year contract with Nervecentre Software to implement its cloud-native electronic patient record (EPR) system.
NHS England has launched a market engagement on a new framework for the supply of digital solutions for primary care, which will replace the expired GP IT Futures Framework.
A technology partnership could help NHS, local government, and housing organisations collaborate to understand the needs of people in their care.
FEATURES
Hayley Grafton , chief nursing information officer (CNIO) at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust , has high hopes for the NHS 10 year health plan, but is concerned that it won’t be as “brave” as she would like.
Upheaval at the centre is a distraction which could worsen shortages of digital expertise on the frontline, argues Dawn Greaves , associate director of digital transformation at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust .
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4moRobotics and AI is good. I’ve predicted for a while that GP role will become specialised because AI can outperform diagnostics better