Managing the risks of digitalisation in the health and care sector

In recent years, the UK has set clear national ambitions to modernise health and social care through the digitalisation of records. The change promises clear benefits: digital records give health and care personnel immediate access to vital information, enabling faster decision-making and reducing the risk of errors. They help care providers manage the administration of medications and coordinate care across different settings more safely. These changes generate significant time savings for overstretched staff - and set the stage for improved early detection and preventive care.

The 2022 policy paper A Plan for Digital Health and Social Care established a major milestone for the UK: it aimed for 80% of adult social care providers registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to adopt digital care records by March 2024 - a target that the UK was approaching by late 2025.^[1] Alongside this paper, the What Good Looks Like framework, published in 2023 by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, provided a sector-wide roadmap for managing the transition to digital records.^[2] Such initiatives marked a significant push toward a more connected, digitised and responsive care system.

Navigating the risks of digitalisation - an insider’s perspective

Despite the many benefits of digitalisation, the transition has also generated a number of risks. Roy Smith (pictured), who joined Travelers Europe as Senior Risk Control Consultant last year, knows them well. He spent decades working in a wide variety of roles and settings across the care sector, and directly supported the digital transition of two care providers during this time. This first-hand experience means Smith is well placed to advise care organisations on how best to evaluate potential providers that will enable this digitalisation process. With the explosion of digital care platforms in recent years as the software industry seeks to tap into the opportunity, the choice can be bewildering.

“There is a whole host of challenges that organisations face during a digital transition,” Smith said. “Poor product selection, ineffective project management, workforce technophobia, training challenges, inadequate IT infrastructure and the difficulty of a large data migration can all derail a project. It’s important for the process to be understood and well managed — and that isn’t an overnight exercise.”

In his current role, Smith works closely with brokers to help organisations in the care sector understand and manage their risks, reducing their exposures while guiding them into a stronger position to seize new opportunities. Supporting clients as they navigate digitalisation is one important part of this work.

Understanding the risk landscape

The risks of the digital transition are both operational and strategic. These are some of the key risk categories Smith works with brokers and their clients to consider:

• Data integrity and completeness: If digital records are incomplete, inaccurate or inaccessible by the right staff at the right time, the consequences can be serious. In one recent case, a care-home company in Scotland was fined £1.8 million after the choking death of an elderly resident. Staff did not have immediate access to the resident’s care plan, which said she needed close supervision while eating and drinking.^[3]
• Cybersecurity and data governance: Holding large digital data sets, including sensitive personal health and care data, raises an organisation’s cyber, regulatory (e.g. data breach fines), reputational and operational continuity risk. The What Good Looks Like guidance emphasises the need for robust assurance, infrastructure and information governance.
• Workforce and change management: Having the right technology won’t suffice unless staff are trained and supported in digital ways of working. Lack of digital literacy and resistance to change pose real risks to implementation. Smith said that even when a few people aren’t trained on time, massive gaps in digital care records can result. For example, a worker who hasn’t been trained on a digital tool that colleagues are already using might fail to record that a resident has received meals or medication — even when the worker has completed these tasks. This gap could then trigger a false alarm that the service must take time to investigate.
• Regulatory compliance and clinical safety: Any failure in care delivery (e.g. arising from missing records or wrong data) has a direct impact on patient safety — and can have legal, regulatory and insurance implications.
• Business continuity and resilience: Over-reliance on digital systems without a robust disaster recovery plan can leave an organisation exposed to system failures, loss of access to records, or catastrophic outages.

Risk management partners play a vital role

Health and care organisations who are just embarking on their transition to digitalisation need a helping hand as they navigate the pitfalls and opportunities of the process. That’s where Smith and broker partners come in. They can assess a client’s digital maturity to better understand how far they’ve progressed in implementing digital records, how well their systems connect with other services, and whether staff have been trained to use them effectively. Alongside this, they can review the strength of a client’s governance and assurance arrangements, checking that digital systems are tested, audited and supported by clear backup procedures should something go wrong.

Cyber risk management is another important thread of the conversation, since digitisation inevitably heightens exposure to data breaches, outages and system failures. Risk management partners can identify existing and emerging vulnerabilities that clients can address, as well as ensure their clients’ insurance programmes provide suitable protection in the event of a breach. Their experience working with a range of clients may give them insights about the performance and resilience of technology vendors, whose systems are often critical to care delivery.

Overall, risk management partners can help health and care sector clients set the stage for long-term resilience. Whether in advising clients about staff training, change management, or evolving regulation, brokers and insurers can keep clients abreast of their ongoing risk management needs. Travelers, for example, offers these clients resources including a dedicated risk consulting service, proactive rehabilitation support for employees returning to work, and access to occupational health and safety training courses.

“The drive to digitise health and social care records in the UK is central to providing quality service and building sustainable operations,” Smith said. “But the risks that accompany this transformation are significant. It’s important for brokers and others supporting health and care clients to frame digitalisation as a risk-control priority and not simply a technology upgrade. The right controls, training, vendor oversight, business-continuity planning and assurance frameworks can help providers better navigate this change and make the most of the opportunities it provides.”

To find out how Travelers can help your health and care clients on their digitilisation journey, contact the team here. Or to learn more about Travelers Health and Care Insurance, visit https://www.travelers.co.uk/what-we-cover/health-and-care-organisation-insurance.

^{This article is provided for general informational purposes only. It does not, and it is not intended to, provide legal, technical or other professional advice, nor does it amend, or otherwise affect, the provisions or coverages of any insurance policy issued by Travelers. Travelers does not warrant that adherence to, or compliance with, any recommendations, best practices, checklists, or guidelines will result in a particular outcome. Furthermore, laws, regulations, standards, guidance and codes may change from time to time and you should always refer to the most current requirements and take specific advice when dealing with specific situations. In no event will Travelers be liable in tort, contract or otherwise to anyone who has access to or uses this information.}

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This article was created in partnership with Travelers.