Understanding factors that enable digital service change in general practice during the Covid-19 pandemic
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Baird, Beccy, author Maguire, David, author
- Contributor(s):
- King's Fund (London, England), issuing body.
- Publication:
- [London, England] : The King's Fund, February 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- COVID-19 -- economics General Practice -- organization & administration Health Information Interoperability -- standards Telemedicine -- organization & administration Chronic Disease -- therapy United Kingdom
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Covid-19 prompted rapid uptake of existing technologies to deliver patient care differently in general practice. Critical changes include almost universal access to video consultation platforms, a huge expansion in the use of telephone consultations and universal adoption of digital triage. A host of other supporting changes are also ongoing, including support for primary care clinicians to have wider remote access to clinical IT systems, messaging platforms and shared records with the rest of the system. In this rapid research we examine the following questions. (1) What service changes have happened and which digital products and services were used? (2) Which factors enabled these service changes? (3) Can these factors be sustained outside of the Covid-19 pandemic response? (4) What should be considered in moving to the next phase of pandemic response and post-recovery future? Most of the digital tools employed in the rapid changes to services were already available and in use in some practices--but the uptake and adoption of tools has progressed at a scale and pace that in normal circumstances would be incredibly challenging, even with significant investment and support. We found that general practice had been able to adapt relatively quickly due to a number of factors, often related to a streamlining of bureaucracy and processes that had existed pre-pandemic, combined with an increased tolerance for risk and a burning platform around safety which overrode some of the cultural barriers to change that had existed before the pandemic. Implementation was further supported by a rapid response from technology suppliers who in some cases were able to roll out solutions in a matter of days directly to practices, who were themselves able to bypass existing procurement processes to implement the tools they chose. The transition was not entirely smooth and there are lessons to be learnt if the gains are to be sustained. For example, issues around infrastructure and interoperability impeded both the speed and quality of implementation. Many of these issues pre-date the pandemic and will need to be addressed if policy ambitions are to be achieved. Procurement and information governance processes, which were streamlined and, in some cases, by-passed, will also need to be revisited. Key to ongoing and sustained innovation in this area will be the quality of local support to practices and health systems to support implementation, both in terms of supporting the introduction of the technology itself and in supporting the change management and system redesign at a practice level that is a prerequisite of successful digital change.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (47 pages))
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918299587406676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918299587406676