Case Study: The Topol Review and the Digital Future

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The legacy of the Topol Review continues with the recent publication of a report on Developing healthcare workers confidence in AI. We are building capacity for a digitally enabled workforce through the NHS Academy and innovating in education through the deployment of new XR technologies. I would like to thank everyone who continue to both support and work on the recommendations of the report, and celebrate the impact this is having both in the NHS, and globally.

Patrick Mitchell Director of Innovation, Digital and Transformation Health Education England

Summary

Published in 2019, the Topol Review presented a compelling vision for preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future, where technology can help address the big healthcare challenges, through augmenting the workforce, driving productivity, and releasing more time to care for patients.

Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated changes in the way care was delivered beyond our expectations, transcending digital transformation to become a top priority for NHS policy makers and leaders, demonstrated at the peak of the pandemic where 70% General Practitioner consultations took place either online or by telephone, compared to 30% consultations prior to the pandemic (Royal College of GPs, 2021). This presented both opportunities and challenges for delivering the digital future in the context of the Topol Review recommendations.

As outlined in the recently published Topol Review: Progress on the recommendations, there has been significant progress made by Health Education England and our delivery partners in helping to make this vision a reality, including:

• Establishment of education programmes in Genomics, Digital Readiness and Digital, AI and Robotics Technologies (DART-Ed) to develop workforce capability at all levels
• Development of our Knowledge and Library Services offer, making knowledge more accessible to healthcare professionals ensuring evidence-based decision making, as well as helping to improve digital and health literacy of patients and citizens
• The AI and Digital Healthcare Technologies Capability Framework identified gaps in the current knowledge of the NHS staff in England and lays out a path to support the digital transformation of the workforce
• Growth in use of the elearning for healthcare hub, now with over two million users accessing 450+ elearning programmes, and launch of the Learning Hub, enabling the health and care workforce to contribute and share a wide variety of learning resources for colleagues to use

Future direction

The legacy of the Topol Review continues with the recent publication of a report on Developing healthcare workers’ confidence in AI, where Dr Eric Topol praised the work as “a model for other countries to adopt as we move forward with implementing AI in medical practice”. The transition of HEE into the new Workforce, Training and Education Directorate of NHS England creates exciting opportunities to bring the breadth of work together, helping to further accelerate progress towards a digitally enabled, digital ready workforce, realising the digital future of healthcare for the benefit of patients, families, carers and citizens.