Introduction

Health Education England (HEE) have commissioned the University of Manchester to undertake a learning needs assessment and the creation of a capability framework to aid the learning and development of the healthcare workforce of England.

The Topol Review¹ released in 2019 outlined a set of recommendations for preparing the National Health Service (NHS) workforce to become world leaders in utilising digital technologies for healthcare delivery to the benefit of patients by delivering the digital future.

Clinical teams of the near future will be required to utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital health technologies effectively and equitably to deliver the healthcare of tomorrow.

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to a broad field of science encompassing not only computer science but also psychology, philosophy, linguistics and other areas. AI is concerned with getting computers to do taks that would normally require human intelligence"¹ 

The capability framework builds on the foundational digital literacy capabilities introduced in 'A Health and Care Digital Capabilities Framework'².

The AI and Digital Healthcare framework extends this with capabilities around the use of health data and the technologies that make use of this data (for example apps, wearables, software). This is further extended with more advanced capabilities for AI and robotics.

Capabilities range from an initial awareness through to implementing these technologies in a healthcare environment and supporting digital transformation projects.

"Digital Healthcare Technologies is defined as digital products and services that are intended for use in the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring and treatment of a disease, condition or syndrome.

This encompasses a broad range of technologies: telemedicine, smartphone apps, wearable devices, software used in clinical settings (such as e-prescribing), point of care tests, and extended reality technologies (including virtual reality and augmented reality)."¹

In reponse to this need, Health Education England (HEE) commissioned a learning needs assessment and the creation of a capability framework to aid the learning and development of the healthcare workforce of England.

The capability framework aims to help healthcare workers identify gaps in their current knowledge and areas for prepaatory activities to support the digital transformation of the workforce.

References

¹ Health Education England (2019) The Topol Review: Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future

² Health Education England (2018) A Health and Care Digital Capabilities Framework