New webinar: Shifting to neighbourhood care using lessons in digital adoption
Health Innovation South West has shared lessons learnt in digital adoption in a rural and coastal region as the NHS and industry move to neighbourhood working up and down the country.
The webinar, ‘Shifting to Neighbourhood Care: Lessons in digital adoption from a rural and coastal region’, saw 120 colleagues from across the health and care sector convene on 22 September to explore the lessons we have learnt in digital adoption in rural and coastal communities in the South West that can be applied to other regions.
As part of the Government’s three shifts laid out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the NHS is moving care from hospitals into homes and communities. Digital tools can support this neighbourhood model, but care must be designed around the communities it serves.
Rural and coastal neighbourhoods face a unique combination of structural dynamics that increase demand while making delivery more complex. The webinar showcased lessons learnt in digital adoption across rural and coastal regions in the South West, including how:
- Technology enables – but people deliver
- Workforce is changing: Staff are co-designing digital care, not just using it
- Care is cultural as well as clinical – home isn’t hospital, and staff must adapt.
The panel featured expert speakers, including Paul Hepden, Primary and Community Care Digital Transformation Lead, NHS England South West, Dr Simon Patten, Clinical Director Urgent and Emergency Care, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr Kelly Hunt, Consultant Community Geriatrician, Hospital @ Home Frailty at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
The webinar formed part of Innovation Insights, a series of free-to-attend webinars designed and delivered by England’s health innovation networks, exploring the latest opportunities to improve patient outcomes and drive system improvements through health innovation.
The webinar recording and slides are available now, along with 15 other Innovation Insights sessions to explore.
Stay tuned for details of our next Innovation Insights webinar on innovation in rural and coastal neighbourhood health, planned for early 2027.
