England’s leading digital nurse has said she remains optimistic about the future of technological transformation in the health service, despite the recent news that NHS England will be dissolved.
Helen Balsdon, chief nursing information officer (CNIO) for the country, told Nursing Times that nurses would be key to harnessing technology to improve the health service after upcoming restructure.
“The whole system is going through a reset”
Helen Balsdon
Last week, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that NHS England would be dissolved, with all its functions folded into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – undoing a major 2012 restructure of the NHS.
Since the announcement, there has been little information on exactly how this restructure will take place, whether there will be any nurse job losses or what ongoing projects may be impacted.
Ms Balsdon, who appeared at the Digital Health Rewired conference in Birmingham today to talk about technological transformation in the NHS, was asked by Nursing Times how she felt about the future of the digital agenda, following the shock of last week’s announcements.
She said she was optimistic, adding: “The whole system is going through a reset.
“It’s not just NHS England; [integrated care boards], providers – we’re all having to work in a different operating model, with some fiscal challenges.
“But, actually, we’ve got an amazing nursing workforce, and it’s about harnessing their creativity because digital transformation is really going to help us [in] the long term, and we’ve got to keep our eye on that long-term focus so that we can really harness the benefits.”
Ms Balsdon also appeared on a panel at Digital Health Rewired alongside national chief midwifery information officer (CMIO) Jules Gudgeon, national chief pharmacy and medicines information officer Rahul Singal and Prabha Vijayakumar, national chief allied health professionals information officer.
The panel was chaired by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust CNIO Hayley Grafton.
From left: Helen Balsdon, Rahul Singal, Prabha Vijayakumar, Jules Gudgeon, Hayley Grafton
Ms Grafton, while chairing the panel, said she was “disappointed” at the way the news about NHS England was announced, and that “a lot” of people in the profession were “anxious” about what the future held.
She asked panellists how they would “maintain the momentum” of the progress already made on digital transformation.
In response, Ms Balsdon said she remained “really excited” about the future: “That probably sounds controversial given all of the announcements, but actually we all do good work at every layer of the system.
“It’s going to be challenging for us all in the next couple of years… but actually at the heart of what we’re trying to achieve, digital and data is the key. It’s one of the major shifts.”
Ms Balsdon added: “Much as there [are] challenges, I think there are as many opportunities as there are challenges. I think the future’s bright.”
CMIO Ms Gudgeon shared Ms Balsdon’s determination that the restructure would not interfere with her work, and said: “Of course [the announcement] was upsetting to hear, why wouldn’t it be? We’re human beings.
“But it was the love of our colleagues and many of you in the room… that made us realise that we just need to carry on.”
She added: “I am going to make sure that I make a difference over the next year.
“It’s made me more determined, because at the end of the day, women are still having babies and the work continues, and I think there’s never been a more important time to show our worth.”
Ms Balsdon, who is employed by NHS England, also gave a short keynote speech to the conference about the work of her office and of regional CNIOs across the country.
In this speech, Ms Balsdon celebrated the progress made on developing the CNIO role across the last 10 years.
She reiterated that, in her view, “the future is bright”, although there would be “difficult decisions” in the future.
Ms Balsdon spoke about how technology, and nurse-led implementation of it, could help address the biggest challenges in healthcare.
The CNIO also spoke about the potential uses for nurses of specific technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) in building on the foundations being laid by digitisation projects such as the implementation of electronic patient records (EPRs) at most English hospitals.
