How our Plug and Playbook series can help accelerate delivery of the NHS Frontline Digitisation agenda.
FAQs
Which hospitals/trusts might benefit most from the Playbooks?
The content of the Playbooks is so extensive that it will support delivery for those who haven’t begun their digital journey to those working on the frontline of data security and governance.
How do we understand what we need as an organisation and how to achieve it?
The HIMSS maturity model ratings provide the industry-standard view of where a hospital/trust sits together with its aspiration. Aitemology®’s Discovery exercise supports this view by identifying all the people, process, technology and organisational components (and inter-dependencies) that need to be addressed. This defines a comprehensive view of scope.
Is this work exclusively about digital/technical transformation?
No, a change to your technology landscape will inevitably affect how the rest of your organisation operates. The Playbooks incorporate all the technical and non-technical aspects, so you’ll understand any associated impacts. We’ve also incorporated all the challenges, pitfalls and lessons learned from years of experience and client engagements to mitigate as much delivery-related risk as possible.
How does your approach address the differences within the hospital/trust network?
We know one size doesn’t fit all so our methodology is flexible, allowing you to use as much or as little as your individual requirements dictate. It’s scalable and can be used for any size of organisation, and there’s no compunction to start at the beginning and finish at the end.
Although the hospitals/trusts are different, the NHS Frontline Digitisation objective is the same. How can we ensure a repeatable and consistent approach?
The Playbooks provide a step-by-step blueprint of the ‘what, when, how and who’ so the hospitals/trusts can be confident of achieving their outcomes using a best practice methodology. The Playbooks help you understand the specific outcomes you are driving and inform the journey.
The interoperability and convergence of the hospitals/trusts is the holy grail. How can we achieve this?
Change management is needed to develop the non-technical aspects, such as a common code of practice, universal definitions, and standardised ways of working. The key technical aspects should include agreed data conventions, integrations, and data management/security, all of which are covered in the Playbooks.
Managing our risk exposure during delivery is a key concern. How can we be sure this will be minimised?
Our Playbooks have been created using direct experience from regulated and non-regulated sectors/industries and critical and non-critical business functions with all the outputs internally and externally audited. Our collateral has been tried and tested and has withstood professional third-party scrutiny.
Does your methodology prescribe use of any vendor or product?
No, we are vendor and product agnostic, but we do partner insightful and like-minded people who we’re happy to introduce into the conversation if/when relevant and appropriate (e.g., Cyber Security specialists).
There is a huge strain on resources in terms of people and money. How will your methodology help alleviate this pressure?
The purpose of the Playbooks is to ensure those tasked with delivery have all the required knowledge and collateral at their disposal, limiting the time spent on programme tasks when they might otherwise be focussing on patient care. From a technical perspective, one aim of digital transformation is to move from ‘big hit’ capital expenditure to an on-going and more manageable operating expenditure model.
How can NHS organisations be confident Aitemology® truly understands their requirements and that the Playbooks will satisfy these?
We’ve reviewed and amalgamated every applicable provision/requirement defined for the Digital Aspirant programme, NHSX Unified Tech Fund and HM Treasury’s Green Book ‘5-case model’, ensuring they’re incorporated into the relevant components of our Playbooks.
