£260m Technology Fund details revealed

Trusts must apply by the end of this month for part of the £260m Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards Technology Fund; and the money must be spent by March 2015.

A document released today by NHS England, ‘Safer Hospitals Safer Wards: Achieving an integrated digital care record‘, sets a deadline of 31 July for expressions of interest in the fund.

It says £90m will be available in this financial year and £170m in the next. This funding must be spent before the end of March 2015.

The fund is open to all NHS trusts including acute, community, mental health and ambulance providers.

However, trusts that are benefitting from a local service provider contract, or are looking to introduce integrated digital care records or e-prescribing via the South Local Clinical Systems Programme, will not be eligible for funding for the same projects.

“The capital fund is a catalyst to assist NHS organisations to move from paper-based to paper-light and effectively paperless, integrated digital care records,” today’s document says.

“It also supports those organisations that seek to achieve demonstrable improvements in efficiency, quality and safety by introducing e-prescribing within acute settings and community settings, linked for optimal benefit to an IDCR.”

There is no maximum amount per application and trusts can submit multiple applications, but applicants must match any funding received.

“Organisations must be able to cover any NHS capital charges, depreciation and the consequential revenue or capital run-on costs arising from the initial capital award,” the guidance says.

“At the end of the programme, a trust should be able to point to tangible measurable improvements in their ability to deliver improved care provision for patients.”

The fund was first announced by health secretary Jeremy Hunt in May, when the Department of Health indicated it would be used to drive e-prescribing. However, it has now been linked firmly to the guidance on creating IDCRs that NHS England released today, although the timescales are different.

The key areas NHS England is looking to promote are; adoption of the NHS Number as primary identifier; integrated digital care records including information sharing within and between organisations; e-prescribing; and advanced scheduling.

Projects to introduce systems that are not to directly support the delivery of frontline care are not eligible, nor are infrastructure-only projects or ICT outsourcing projects.

Trusts must outline their local roadmap to progress from a paper to paper-lite to paperless operating model over coming years. This plan is not required at the time of application, but at the point that funds are awarded.

Materials to apply for the fund are available online. A panel of advisors will work with trusts during August and September to review their applications and successful projects will be announced this October.