Digital transformation

The way we manage our lives is changing. More and more households now have internet access,  go online every day and use a smartphone.

It is now time to embrace this rapidly increasing digitalised world and manage our own well-being, health and social care needs. With two-thirds of visits to the nhs.uk website being on smartphones, there are clear indications that a majority of people are ready to go online to understand and manage their health and care needs. 

Lancashire and South Cumbria is home to a growing population of almost 2 million people. More of us are getting older and experiencing long-term health problems. Some of this disease could be avoided or the ill-effects slowed down, if we took positive action. Using digital is one approach to help address the challenges we all face.

We know digital will not work for everybody. Some people struggle with computers and not everybody has access to the internet. For those who would like to use digital but cannot, our aim will be to find ways to help them get online. As our digital offer grows we hope people will find it easier and more convenient to use online services, but technology will never replace the care and compassion that comes from our dedicated workforce.

In 2018, Lancashire and South Cumbria published its ‘Our Digital Future’ and set out partnership working as a system.

So much has happened since then. The NHS is a completely different place following the pandemic and now, following the formation of an Integrated Care Board and the appointment of the chief digital officer in November 2022, we are paving the way for a new digital and data strategy which will be published in Summer 2023.