Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of fast broadband and mobile phones in sending diagnostic information between patients in their own homes and medical practitioners.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government supports the wider use of information technologies in health and social care and the creation of a paperless National Health Service by 2020.

Investments in health technology were announced in the autumn statement and will help patients and staff access the services they need and facilitate use of online services and apps including those that enable communication between patients and their medical and other health and social care practitioners.

The Government welcomes the recommendations to increase take-up of internet enabled services that were made by Martha Lane Fox in December 2015. These recommendations will inform the delivery of the National Implementation Board’s contribution to the implementation of the NHS strategic plan for England outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View.