Mandate tells NHS England to push tech

A number of commitments to encourage the NHS to use new technology have survived a tussle between the government and NHS England and appeared in the revamped NHS Mandate.

The government published the first mandate to NHS England a year ago. The document is the government’s permission for the commissioning board to function, and sets out the objectives on which it is meant to deliver.

A consultation on a revised mandate was published to coincide with the NHS’ 65th anniversary in July, but was criticised for being overly prescriptive.

Ahead of the publication of the original mandate, Sir Malcolm Grant, the commissioning board’s chair, said he would like a short mandate that could be “published in the Sun.”

But NHS England said the draft incarnation moved too far from this, setting too many new objectives, and too much detail on how they should be achieved.

For example, the draft attempted to update NHS England’s technology objective to challenging the NHS to go digital by 2018, and it laid down some detailed prescriptions for booking and the extension of the family and friends test.

The final mandate, which was published yesterday, is generally shorter and less prescriptive than the draft. However, it still contains a number of IT commitments, in line with policies and targets already announced by ministers.

On IT, the mandate says that “it is crucial that the NHS not only operates at the limits of medical science, but also increasingly at the forefront of new technologies. The board’s objective is to achieve a significant increase in the use of technology to help people manage their health and care.”

Specific aims for 2015 include making sure that patients have “online access to their own health records held by their GP”, and for the board to work with “relevant organisations” on giving people access to other records and joining up records to make them available across care pathways.

It also says people should be able to book appointments and order repeat prescriptions online and hold e-consultations by 2015, and that there should be “significant progress” on the 3millionlives campaign by 2017.

Other objectives for NHS England in the mandate include extending the family and friends test to A&E and maternity services, and then other health services.

The mandate says “hospitals with good scores on the ‘family and friends’ test will be financially rewarded; but there is no mention of extending it to GPs, as planned in the draft.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Commons: “Where the government has introduced changes, these focus on the priorities that will support the successful transformation of health and care services to meet the needs of an ageing population and the increasing prevalence of long-term physical and mental health conditions.”

He said other changes were intended to support a new government focus on vulnerable older people in hospitals, and on the NHS’ response to the Francis Inquiry into the Mid Staffs scandal.