With additional capital funding, my organisation would prioritise investment in... (select two)
Given the scale of the productivity gains on offer, investment in better digital systems was the number one priority for survey respondents, with two-thirds citing it as their top ask.
For community providers, capital funding can be used to expand the use of virtual health services, such as virtual consultations for planned care, and health monitoring for virtual wards. It can also be used to support interoperability between organisations. Where additional capital funding has been made available, community providers report being able to increase referrals into UCR (urgent community response) services via digital interfaces.
Forty per cent of respondents to our survey said investment to support integrated working was their number one priority. With further investment, community provider leaders are keen to focus on scaling up digital solutions and integration and driving forward government ambitions for the health and care system.
Key to this, in the eyes of the community sector, is strong leadership from the centre to make this funding available to all community providers. CICs in particular struggle to access existing capital for digital transformation, with the result being a wide variation in digital maturity across providers.