The NHS is going through a tough moment. We live in a time where we are constantly reminded to work more efficiently and effectively; to do more with less; and to go the extra mile on a daily basis
With increasing financial pressures and soaring demand, the NHS is changing. Questions over quality, services, technology and funding make it hard to imagine what the NHS might look like in 10 years’ time.
Critical to the future of the NHS is that the public takes greater responsibility for its own health and wellbeing. We as health professionals must support them.
Patients need to stop being passive consumers of care and become active and leading partners in their own health. Individual responsibility and lifestyle choices are as important to the success of the system as the quality or quantity of care provided.
Patient choices should be enhanced. Our role as health workers needs to change from a provider to a facilitator and support the individual with their choices.
This requires a big cultural change between health care professionals. For most, our focus is in trying to return people to a healthy state. We become doctors, nurses or physiotherapists to help to make people better. However, this mentality needs to change.
A greater emphasis needs to be put on prevention, and our role needs to move from saviours to preventing illness happening in the first place.
A key component for a happy future is that we maximise the benefits made available to us via technology. Acceptance and capability of technology in our everyday lives is commonplace and we now need to extend the benefits that technology brings into the delivery of our healthcare.
We live in a society where communication is fast and accessible, yet our NHS is still using technology from 25 years ago.
The updated Five Year Forward View sets out a clear direction for patients to gain far greater control of their own health.
We run our lives from the palm of our hands. The NHS needs to embrace this - improving the accuracy and usefulness of information we can gather on our health; changing how and where care is delivered; and offering new ways to prevent, predict, detect and treat illness.
We need to work smarter and push for a digital revolution. That is why I did not hesitate when an opportunity arose to work at the epicentre of this digital transformation. As a nurse I am very excited to start my fellowship at NHS Digital.
How many times have we complained that nursing has never been given the opportunity to have a proper say or shape the care that the NHS provides? Plenty of times as nurses we have felt second best. We see other professions are leading the changes.
This fellowship will give this opportunity to get involved and help to shape the future of the NHS and showcase to the rest of the health professions, and the public, what nursing is capable of and that we are ready to lead the change.
This week I have started my 12 months fellowship. You will be able to follow my journey on my monthly blogs.
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Tweet with Joan Pons Laplana via @RoaringNurse ... he'd love to chat to you about #MyDigitalJourney
(This blog is edited by @NHSdigital comms)
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