NHS Providers has today published a guide into NHS digital leadership. This guide is designed to help trust leaders build on the momentum made during COVID-19 and support NHS boards lead their organisations into the next stage of digitisation.

A new era of digital leadership has been jointly prepared by NHS Providers and Public Digital as part of the new Digital Boards programme, supported by Health Education England.

The guide includes a number of board-level case studies as well as key COVID-19 reflections and lessons from other sectors. It also sets out useful questions for board leaders as they reflect on their own digital leadership:

• Does the trust have a shared understanding of what 'digital' means that goes beyond IT? 
• Can you explain which areas you chose not to focus on in your digital strategy, and how you made these decisions?
• Does the trust's leadership take collective responsibility for the digital agenda, as it does for quality and finance?
• Does the trust have a shared commitment and vision for digitally-enabled health and care across its STP or ICS? Is the trust clear on the system’s investment priorities?
• Are teams in the trust empowered to experiment with new ways of working, and is the organisation well placed to scale up innovation when it succeeds?

The deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said:

"We know COVID-19 has accelerated digital ways of working across the NHS. Trusts have made huge progress in a relatively short space of time, be it rolling out virtual consultations or adapting existing approaches to support clinical reconfiguration.

"We have also seen discussions about digital issues elevated within NHS board rooms. As we look to the next phase of the COVID-19 response and beyond, trust leaders want to build on their successes, lock in the learning of COVID-19, and sustain their new ways of working.

"Our guide, jointly prepared with Public Digital and supported by Health Education England, aims to help trust leaders build on this momentum and support them to lead their organisations into the next stage of digitisation. The publication explores the pre-conditions for success in digital transformation as well as lessons from other sectors

"We look forward to extending our support to trusts as we continue to roll out our Digital Boards programme over the coming weeks and months."

Patrick Mitchell, director of innovation and transformation at Health Education England said:

"I'm delighted to see the launch of the first of the guides of the new Digital Boards programme. HEE has commissioned NHS Providers, through our Digital Readiness Programme, to deliver these guides as part of an easy to access portfolio of digital leadership interventions.

"The portfolio includes regional seminars, an online knowledge hub, board briefings and bespoke board development sessions and is important in achieving the ambition of improving digital leadership capabilities.

"We are supporting health and care boards and senior leaders to enable them to confidently lead their organisation’s digital agenda. We see it as vital that we provide Trust leaders with the knowledge and development to help them build on the digital momentum in a post-COVID-19 environment"