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The NHS’s new goals may sound familiar: prevent more, manage better, ease the strain on hospitals. But the emphasis on digital innovation to get there is new – and it comes with a double edge.
Digital innovation can transform outcomes and free up frontline staff, but it also exposes services to unprecedented risks. Jo Yeaman, Managing Director of PR & Communications consultancy, MIH Group, explains why – in this environment – strong communications are not a ‘nice to have’, but are central to leadership, resilience and trust.
In many ways, the ambitions set out within the 10 Year Health Plan for England echo the goals set for the NHS vision when I first joined the service in 2002 – in summary, a ‘left-shift’ to focus on community-based prevention, alongside better management of long-term conditions to improve patient outcomes and help reduce the pressure on acute and emergency services.
What’s different in 2025 is how it’s going to be achieved and – among other things – there’s a major focus on digital innovation and investment.
At MIH, we’ve been working with a number of forward-thinking NHS organisations and independent healthcare providers within the digital healthcare space. It’s been truly exciting to see the emerging evidence for realising better patient outcomes and experience; not to mention the return on investment for overstretched healthcare services – for example, freeing up clinical time by automating processes to reduce administrative burden, or improving clinical responsiveness to risk stratification findings.
However, we’ve also experienced first-hand the flipside of relying on digital solutions within healthcare. Over the past year, we’ve been supporting healthcare providers – both NHS and independent – in responding to one of the most devastating cyberattacks in the UK so far. It has opened our eyes to the true impact of this indiscriminate, unscrupulous criminal act. Despite the well-publicised insights since, it surprises us how many senior people still think that a cyberattack is limited to data theft. In reality, it goes far beyond – immediate lock-out from all electronic systems, such as HR, finance, ordering and patient/client records, leaving organisations paralysed and forced to rebuild systems from scratch.
Added to this is the worry a cyberattack brings to service users, suppliers, staff and everyone else who’s digitally connected in some way – not wanting to open emails, visit the website, make online appointments, or access their personal records, just in case. Furthermore, if the victim’s systems are integrated with those of external parties, that means there’s a doorway for the perpetrators through to the next victim. Whilst digitisation brings efficiency and improvement, it also links an organisation directly with so many of its stakeholders who can lose trust and confidence in a moment.
That’s why quality communications matter: winning hearts and minds to deliver change, preparing for crises, or protecting and rebuilding reputation when the worst happens. It’s why ensuring access to outstanding communications and PR expertise needs to be at the heart of any effective leader’s gameplan.
At MIH, we work as a trusted partner to our clients, providing the expertise, capacity and resilience that leaders need to achieve success and navigate the challenges ahead.
MIH stands for Make It Happen, because that’s exactly what we do. If you’re shaping the future, facing crisis or managing risk, we’d be delighted to discuss how we can help steer around the impending obstacles and turn your vision and goals into reality.