We all take pride in the NHS, yet it faces real and present challenges. Through enabling digitisation, we are supporting the booking of appointments online and in some cases, negating the need for patients to visit a surgery at all, relieving pressure on doctors and nurses.
eConsult is a platform used by the NHS that does just this, providing patients with a means to interact with their GP online, enabling a more efficient use of resources. Indeed, new research from Cebr and Stantec highlights that because of our rollout, approximately five million more online or video appointments will be possible by the end of this parliament, compared to last year.
Openreach is the national builder, delivering full fibre broadband in every parliamentary constituency, and our latest partnership with the UK Government through Project Gigabit will see us build to a further 312,000 premises in predominantly rural areas.
As a balanced builder we are also really focused on urban areas, too. There are around 750,000 premises, typically blocks of flats, that are still missing out on this vital connectivity, where we have built to the curb, but can progress no further.
Out-of-date planning rules means landlords must give permission for broadband upgrades – even when there’s an existing line in place. Identifying landlords is proving a major obstacle for my team. In supporting this government’s mission for growth, we should work together to change this and grant automatic upgrade rights – at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
A further obstacle is streetworks permitting. Each year, we apply for around 300,000 permits to work on a street-by-street basis. To achieve our ambitious plans, our permit applications are set to increase further, placing an unnecessary burden on highway teams.
A simple fix would see the introduction of a more flexible permitting regime – allowing the industry to upgrade multiple streets at once. This would speed-up our ability to realise the associated productivity benefits and ensure equal access for all.
Platforms like eConsult are just the beginning of the technological transformation for the healthcare industry. In the words of Dr Ellender, “the rollout of full fibre enables every single patient, wherever they are, to access their GP online.” Further adoption of digital tools will help to reduce waiting times, reduce GP workloads and drive innovations that we haven’t even realised yet. However, this all needs to be underpinned by world-class digital infrastructure.
I am proud of Openreach’s role in enabling this transformation, and with a few simple, cost-neutral changes, this can continue at pace with more benefits realised in people’s everyday lives while growing our economy.
Katie Milligan, Openreach COO
Our rollout of full fibre broadband is delivering benefits across the UK, from helping people stay connected, to supporting growing businesses and enabling our public services to reform and adapt to an increasingly digital world