Can a digital transformation take place in Welsh healthcare?

Published 25/01/2019   |   Last Updated 27/05/2021   |   Reading Time minutes

On Wednesday 30 January 2019, the Assembly will debate the Public Accounts Committee’s report Informatics Systems in NHS Wales.

The Public Accounts Committee undertook an inquiry on NHS Wales informatics services during the summer 2018 term and published its report in November 2018. The Committee considered the Welsh Government’s response to the report in January 2019, which accepted all five recommendations.

The inquiry is said to have ‘raised serious question marks about the competence, capability and capacity across the health system to deliver a digital transformation in Welsh healthcare’.

Prior to this inquiry taking place, the Auditor General for Wales published a report on informatics systems in NHS Wales in January 2018. The report considers whether NHS Wales can achieve the intended benefits from its investment in updated clinical ICT services. The Welsh Government produced a response to the report in which it accepted all 13 recommendations.


Article by Rebekah James, National Assembly for Wales Research Service