John Quinn, Chief Information Officer of NHS England, highlighted the importance of delivering national architecture and standards in a speech at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology 2023 (HETT) conference. Quinn acknowledged the burden of legacy technology and the need for investment in infrastructure to prevent the NHS from falling behind. He emphasized the mission to put digital, data, and technology at the heart of transforming the NHS and the significance of investing in people, particularly the development and remuneration of digital professionals. Quinn sees the need for a different relationship between the center and frontline, involving collaboration and incorporating frontline talent into decision-making processes.
Quinn also discussed the future of critical systems infrastructure, suggesting that strategic decisions need to be made about in-house operations versus utilizing cloud-based services. He emphasized the importance of signaling a shift to the market and embracing friction-free opportunities. Additionally, Quinn predicted that there would be technological and security challenges in the future but stressed the importance of breaking up large digital investments into smaller manageable parts to mitigate potential mistakes.
Overall, Quinn’s speech highlighted the need for prioritizing national architecture and standards, investing in infrastructure and digital professionals, fostering collaboration between the center and frontline, and making strategic decisions regarding critical systems infrastructure in order to successfully transform the NHS.