NEWS: £21 Billion Needed to Digitise NHS and Adult Social Care

As reported in Care Home Professional, digitising NHS and adult social care services across the UK will require an estimated £21 billion over the next five years, according to new research published by the Health Foundation

The findings provide the first evidence-based estimate of the full cost to achieve the government’s existing digital ambitions for health and care. Of the total figure, £14.75 billion is required for England alone.

Commissioned by the Health Foundation, the analysis was carried out by PA Consulting and outlines the substantial investment needed to implement critical infrastructure. This includes electronic patient records, cloud storage, cyber security, WiFi and – crucially – the skills and training necessary to use these technologies effectively within health and social care settings.

The research arrives ahead of the government’s Spending Review and the upcoming 10-Year Health Plan, which are expected to set out a long-term strategy for transitioning the NHS from “analogue to digital.” Until now, there has been no publicly available official figure for the full cost of digitisation commitments across health and social care. This new analysis fills that gap and highlights the lack of transparency in publicly available data on both the costs and benefits of NHS digitisation.