First rating shows West and South West England ICS least digitally mature

The first rating given to each Integrated Care System (ICS) for the ‘digital maturity’ of its NHS providers has revealed that ICs in the West and South West of England are the least digitally mature on average.

The final results of NHS England’s latest digital maturity assessment, first revealed by HSJ and subsequently obtained by Digital Health News, showed that neighboring ICs with large rural areas were the lowest performing in terms of digital maturity overall.

It is unclear how the ICS Digital Maturity Score will be used and whether any future investments will be targeted at the lowest scoring ICs or the highest scoring ICs. Recent policy on provider digitization has focused on boot-strapping acute trusts with low digital maturity, in contrast to the Global Digital Exemplar Program which favors the most advanced trusts.

Northamptonshire ICS was the worst performer in the country overall, with an overall digital maturity score of 2.2 out of 5, while neighboring systems Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS, Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS, and Gloucestershire ICS all scored lower at 2.3 or 2.4.

The ICS Digital Maturity Score was calculated as an average of their providers’ scores, making comparisons very difficult as different ICs have a different mix of providers.

Scores were assigned across seven metrics determined in the “What Good Looks Like” framework to determine the overall Digital Maturity Average. They are: well-led, smart foundations, safe practice, supporting people, empowering citizens, improving care and the health of populations.

Suffolk and North Essex, Frimley and West Yorkshire were the only three ICs to score three or more out of five, with an overall NHS rating of 2.4.

The highest scoring ICs on the metric of ‘smart foundations’ used to measure the maturity of systems including electronic patient records and patient administration systems were Suffolk and North Essex, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire and Frimley, while Northamptonshire scored the lowest.

The digital maturity of NHS organizations was last assessed in 2016 before the formation of the ICS in 2019, and due to changes in the criteria for assessment, progress is difficult to measure.

Consultancy firm McKinsey was awarded a £6m contract to provide a digital maturity assessment through 2022. There have been complaints in some trusts that the digital maturity work has been used as a license to try and sell further consultancy services.

Some organizations were accused of deliberately playing with the previous assessment system to get more funds from the Center by under-reporting their digital capabilities.

NHS England has said this year’s assessments have been peer-reviewed to increase validity and prevent trusts finding a way around the system.

NHS England says the results of these assessments are shared with providers and ICBs to help with decision making and resource allocation.