NHS experts have warned of a major growth in cyber-attacks over the next few years, ahead of one of the UK’s largest gathering of healthcare professionals taking place later this month.
Thousands of delegates will attend the UK Health Show on 28th September in London’s Olympia, to engage on issues crucial to the future of the NHS.
Some 98 per cent of those questioned in a survey ahead of the event expressed concerns about cyber security threats now facing the NHS, with more than 84 per cent adding that they expected their organisation to face an increase in attacks during the next several years.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called in September for the NHS to better reflect the ‘era of the smartphone’, with plans for greater use of smartphones and tablet devices by patients to access healthcare records, NHS services and medical advice. But 70 per cent of professionals due to attend the conference, part of the UK Health Show, cast doubts on the NHS’ ability to securely share confidential patient data on apps and mobile devices.
NHS professionals due to attend a dedicated healthcare technology conference at the show, also revealed further concerns in an additional survey. The majority agreed that NHS use of digital tools had improved in recent years, and that technological transformation was now essential for NHS efficiency and greater patient involvement in care decisions. But more than 80 per cent of delegates expressed a lack of confidence that the NHS would meet its 2020 paperless deadline.
The widely-held view supports findings from an independent review commissioned by Jeremy Hunt and led by Professor Bob Wachter, which only weeks ago called on the government to abandon its 2020 paperless NHS target, arguing that no change facing the health service is likely to be as ‘important or challenging as creating a fully digitised NHS’.
