A leaked NHS England report, has warned of a “severe shortage” of digital nurse specialists, which could hinder ambition to drive the healthcare system forward with technology.Nursing Times reported that it has seen the delayed Phillips Ives Review, which was due to be published in 2023 following its launch in 2022.The review, which set out to explore the digital readiness of nurses and midwives, calls for greater investment in the digital specialist workforce and more digital training.According to the Nursing Times, the review found that there was a “severe shortage of digital nurse and midwifery specialists to deliver the digital future”.The review included extensive consultation with nurses and midwives in the UK, taking into account their experiences and opinions.It found that new skills and competencies are needed to keep pace with technological developments in healthcare, including genomics, artificial intelligence and data science.Also it concluded that the roles and functions of the nursing and midwifery position would need to evolve over the next 20 years to help realise the benefits of tech advancements.It says that existing models of nursing and midwifery education are “not generally designed to develop and maintain digital literacy” and some education providers “offered no digital health and care learning opportunities”, Nursing Times reports.This has led the review to suggest reforms for nursing education, so that it can support a digitally-enabled workforce.The report concludes that there is no global understanding of the role of the a specialist digital nurse or digital midwife, which could be impacting the level of seniority the role can reach and the rate of pay, as well as affecting recruitment and retention in the specialism.NHS England had not responded to Digital Health News‘ request for comment at the time of publication.
Cora Lydon
https://www.digitalhealth.net/2024/06/leaked-nhse-review-warns-of-severe-shortage-of-digital-nurses/
