North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust has announced it will invest more than $15m over the next three years to revolutionise its clinical systems and improve patient care.

Part of the investment comes from NHS Digital, which awarded $6.3m to the hospital trust as part of the flagship global digital exemplar progamme, while the other $8.9m will be funded by the trust.

North Middlesex will act as a ‘fast follower’ to the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, by helping it to establish a model which can be rolled out across the NHS more broadly.

The Royal Free will share its experience of being a digitally advanced trust and work with North Middlesex to create blueprints to enable other trusts to follow in its footsteps.

WHY IT MATTERS

North Middlesex University Hospital serves more than 350,000 people living in the London boroughs of Enfield and Haringey and surrounding areas.

The trust hopes the investment will enable it to improve staff access to clinical information in order to improve decision-making and deliver safer and more effective care.

It plans to invest in technology which will enable patients to better manage their own health and interact with health professionals through video consultations.

North Middlesex is also aiming to provide better data that can be used to improve quality, efficiency and patient outcomes, and improve the way clinical systems across north central London interact so that clinicians can better manage patient care.

To help deliver this programme of work, the trust will work in collaboration with System C Healthcare and JAC Computer Services.

WHAT'S THE CONTEXT

There are 17 acute trusts being supported by NHS England to become global digital exemplars, which can deliver improvements in the quality of care through the world-class use of digital technologies and information. Each of these has one or two ‘fast followers’ which support the spread of best practice and innovation.

It was recently reported that the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, a global digital exemplar, is using EMRAM as a benchmarking tool to help drive its ongoing digital transformation strategy.

ON THE RECORD

Maria Kane, chief executive of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, said: "With a rising demand for our services, we need to think differently about how we deliver patient care.

“This investment will help us make the best use of digital technology so that we can improve the way we work and transform our services so that they better meet the needs of our local community."