The NHS needs to develop new ways of using information to deliver services, or risk alienating a generation of "digital natives", according the Department of Health's chief technology officer.
Paul Jones told the Smart Healthcare Live conference in London that the service is still working with processes developed by a generation who came to IT relatively late in life, but that in the next 10 to 20 years this would change. Younger people who have grown up with the technology will have very different expectations.
There is also a potential problem with younger staff, who will expect healthcare processes to reflect the ways that they use IT.
"What I would not like to see is that in a few years, when the digital natives begin to engage regularly with the health service, is that they say it is all rubbish," he said. "If we don't start changing and creating new ways for patients to work with us, we will get to that tipping point."
He insisted, however, that this should not involve forcing people to use electronic channels to engage with the service. Instead, he pointed to the example of e-banking, which was originally offered as an option that few people used, but has become much more popular as people have become comfortable with the service.
"We need to find ways of focusing on channel strategies to see which patients will use which services," he said.
Jones also emphasised the importance of standards and interoperability to support the integration of healthcare services. To support this, the informatics directorate of the Department of Health has produced an interoperability toolkit, which he said can be used to support the development of systems that can work with those of other organisations.
NHS will not be digital by default, says Department of Health CTO
