Opinion News

The problem was spelled out in Dr Claire Fuller's 'Stocktake' for NHS England in May, which reported that "there are real signs of genuine and growing discontent with primary care - both from the public who use it and from the professionals who work within it."

Realistically, we have two options: open Electronic Health Record, better known as openEHR and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR.

It's particularly good to see the strategy's focus on using technology to support primary care and what it calls 'urgent and emergency care' - the services that help patients with an immediate care need that might range from a call to NHS 111 to a trip to the local pharmacy to a visit to A&E.

The first wave came with the installation of bedside terminals that enabled patients to call their loved ones and to watch television without having to wait for a corridor payphone or the ward TV.

They are being asked to prepare for more COVID-19 and a difficult winter. To recover the backlog of elective care that has developed over the past 18-months. To change in response to the arrival of integrated care systems and their agenda of more joined-up, more person-centred care.