Going digital

What was delivered in 2021-22? 

• Focused on innovation and digital enabled care in care and community settings, concentrating on implementing improvement programmes and a digital ‘front door’ to NHS primary care organisations supporting the adoption of technologies. We supported eight primary care practices in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with the adoption and evaluation of three digital self-management innovations. 

• Assisted patients to get the most from their medicines and saved more than 6,800 GP hours in the region by using electronic repeat dispensing (eRD), with an extra 1.6 million prescriptions issued in this way. 

• Wessex AHSN teams have helped the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS) develop their digital strategy to identify and accommodate the conditions and capabilities needed for digital real world evaluations.

• Over 300 staff participated in rapid insight events in response to local need for insights into digital innovation and remote care.

• Supported the NIHR ARC Wessex NIPP2 application to evaluate digital remote monitoring for people living with frailty in the community, achieving funding of £271,250.

• Contributed to the development and evaluation of an innovative new GP surgery providing sustainable, digital-first facilities needed for the future of care.

• Our evaluation of a teledermatology pilot in all primary care practices on the Isle of Wight demonstrated a 63% reduction in future outpatient appointments, with the average waiting time between GP visit and diagnosis at less than one day.

• Wessex AHSN’s industry team has provided advice and support to over 250 companies this year, many of which are introducing digital transformation to the health system. For example, our introductions for innovator QuiqSolutions (providing compliance frameworks for quality monitoring) resulted in two national contracts won, benefiting NHS staff who reported approximately 30% time saved compared to previous practice.