NHS Trust raises concerns over digital workforce shortage

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) says that it is struggling to deliver its digital aspirations, owing to a lack of digital staff.

A board paper, published on 6 March 2025, states that the digital team is “poorly resourced with over 18 vacancies trapped in triple lock”.

It adds that the trust’s IT team “has a varying level of skill” and “is struggling to deliver the organisation’s digital aspirations, especially coupled with a poor project management methodology”.

“This can result in frequent technical issues, security vulnerabilities and system downtimes, which can disrupt business operations and erode the trust of the staff,” the paper adds.

Digital workforce is an ongoing issue for the healthcare sector, with NHS England backtracking on the decision to publish a dedicated digital workforce plan which was expected in 2023.

BHRUT announced in September 2023 had selected Oracle Health’s electronic patient record (EPR) in a 10-year deal worth £44 million.

Its March board paper states: “If we do not implement our investment in digital infrastructure, and our electronic patient record for spring 2025, then we will not be providing the right digital environment and information for our population and workforce, resulting in financial waste and poor patient care.”

The EPR was slated to be fully operational within two years, however the initial go-live date in March 2025 has been “pushed back due to slow progress in testing and data migration”, the board paper confirms.

Technical challenges such as delays in developing the data warehouse and operational challenges surrounding agreement and approval of clinical workflows are also contributing factors.

A proposal has now been made to reschedule the go live to September 2025 “to allow a more realistic timeline, ensuring readiness and minimising unintended consequences”.

Matthew Trainer, chief executive at BHRUT, said: “I am mindful when I write about our strong performances across the board, that they will be adversely affected during the introduction of our electronic patient record later this year.

“A temporary dip in performance has been the experience of other trusts where staff have had to adjust to working digitally, after getting used to relying on paper records.”

A spokesperson for BHRUT declined Digital Health News’ request for comment on the digital vacancies, but said the issue would be discussed further in the trust’s May 2025 board meeting.

In April 2025, Wes Streeting, health secretary, told the the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee that the government is committed to retaining the digital workforce amid the abolition of NHS England and financial cutbacks.

Fears have been raised by digital health leaders that the abolition of NHSE could lead to delays to digital funding and national IT programmes, as well as an uncertain future for NHS digital teams.

Meanwhile, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust reported a shortage of digital healthcare staff at the trust has “impacted significantly on operational capacity”, in its December 2024 board paper.

Mark Chidgey, chief finance officer at the trust, said that  digital healthcare staff vacancies were at 12.5%.