News
Public recognise value of IT for improving patient healthcare
2 March 2010
A survey has found that 70% of the public believe that improved
information technology in NHS trusts contributes towards better care for
patients.
The poll of over 1,200 people from across Britain also revealed that
89% think that it is possible to increase efficiency within the NHS, but
only 25% believed that this could be achieved by increased spending. The
survey was commissioned by Dictate IT, a provider of digital dictation,
speech recognition and transcription systems to the NHS.
There has been growing public anxiety over the effect on patient care
since Health Secretary Andy Burnham’s admission in September that the
NHS needs to save between £15 and £20 billion by 2014. However, a former
head of strategy at the Department of Health, Penny Dash, has recently
claimed that spending cuts within the NHS need not necessarily affect
quality of care, and that existing funds should be directed to
efficiency-driven initiatives such as increased utilisation of
information technology.
Mark Miller, MD of Dictate IT, commented: “We already work with 27
NHS trusts across the country, and are expecting to see this expand, as
more trusts recognise the value of IT in making their budgets go even
further whilst also improving performance.”
Further reinforcing a widespread desire for improved efficiency, the
research also revealed that 65% of the public would vote for outsourcing
of NHS administration, if the result was extra funding for patient care.
Miller continued: “From both a clinical and an administrative point
of view, NHS trusts that invest in digital dictation and transcription
systems are seeing rapid returns. They are more efficient without
compromising on security, resulting in better front line care for
patients, and as this research proves, efficiencies using IT are being
driven from the patient side as well.”
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