Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Kawczynski Excerpts

Tuesday 5th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[George Freeman]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on being a diligent advocate for his constituent Mr Vann. I am delighted to tell him that the result of the STAMPEDE clinical trial has now been published. Today NICE is publishing an evidence review. NHS England will shortly be publishing its interim commissioning policy based on that evidence. That is very encouraging.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

9. What assessment his Department has made of the need for wi-fi infrastructure in hospitals to facilitate use of developing healthcare technologies.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman)]

Digitalisation of healthcare is absolutely essential for the 21st-century NHS—for individual care, for system performance and safety, and for research. Wi-fi is an important part of that, with benefits for doctors, nurses, hospital management and patients. That is why I am delighted that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State secured the necessary funding in the comprehensive spending review to fund fully the NHS’s plans for digitalisation and transformation. We have announced that we are implementing Baroness Martha Lane Fox’s recommendation of free wi-fi in all NHS hospitals.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

I am grateful for that answer. The new chief executive of the Royal Shrewsbury hospital informed me that people can receive wi-fi in only half of the hospital area. Can the Minister give me an assurance that everything will be done to ensure that wi-fi is available throughout the Royal Shrewsbury hospital?

[George Freeman]

That is an important point. It is up to each hospital to implement digitalisation in its own way, but we are putting in place a series of steps to make sure that all parts of the NHS are supported and encouraged in the drive for delivery of a paperless NHS by 2020. In the new year, we are requiring the clinical commissioning group digital index, which will measure the digitalisation of all health economies, and we are launching a review of best practice. We are absolutely committed to driving digitalisation so that the 21st-century NHS is not running on paper and cardboard.