Daily Insight: Tantalisingly beyond reach

There is frustration both at local and national level about what feels like the eternal challenge to get tech-allocated cash to the frontline in a suitable manner.

For several years, NHS trusts have bemoaned the late arrival of tech funding – often capital – in the financial year which ends up being spent for the sake of it, rather than on strategic priorities.

The creation of the three-year Frontline Digitisation Programme, with more than £2bn attached, was set up – partly – to address this by giving trusts earlier notice of what funding to expect between 2022-23 and 2024-25.

But, while the process has helped to an extent, the complex manner in which the money is accessed remains a stumbling block, which will this year result in the allocation being underspent – HSJ understands.

The underspend will leave many scratching their heads, given the desperate need to invest in digital maturity across the health service.

In short, NHS England are annoyed that trusts have taken too long, or misunderstood how, to provide the required information to unlock the cash, while trusts feel the process continues to be unnecessarily complex and bureaucratic.

The end result is one neither party wants, with unspent capital unable to be carried over.

Leaders at both ends of the NHS hierarchy will need to find a way to stop this happening in the fund’s final year, which starts in April.

Public image vs reality

A hospital trust has been heavily criticised by one of its own directors for its treatment of Muslim staff and patients.

Mohammed Hussain has said some board members at Bradford Teaching Hospitals “are not heard and listened to”, claiming there is a “dissonance” between the trust’s social media posts and the lived experiences of its staff.

Mr Hussain, a non-executive director since 2019, also claimed he previously had to chair a four-hour meeting on the first and main day of Eid al-Adha, and on another occasion an extraordinary board meeting called at the same time as Friday prayers went ahead without him, despite him raising concerns.

He publicised his concerns on social media in response to a post from trust CEO Mel Pickup, who claimed the trust had a “variety of support offers for colleagues observing Ramadan”.

It comes after the trust’s former chair dramatically quit last year after publicly raising concerns about Ms Pickup. The trust says it’s investigating Mr Hussain’s concerns.