A data and analytics platform is set to be expanded in an attempt to improve collaboration and innovation across Scotland’s health and social care system.

The Seer platform allows staff to access and analyse data easily, helping clinicians, teams and boards in decision-making around patient care and the planning of resources.

The platform is already in use in areas such as cancer intelligence, the monitoring of blood stocks and the flu vaccination programme. 

The next phase, Seer 2, will utilise cloud technology and give the health and social care workforce access to a more advanced version, increasing opportunities to access new tools and technologies with greater flexibility.

The new features have already been used to create new dashboards to help manage capacity during winter.

Health secretary Neil Gray spoke at the Digital Health and Care Scotland Conference 2024 and confirmed that the Scottish Government will provide an update on Scotland’s first Data Strategy this spring - with an updated Delivery Plan for the Digital Health and Care Strategy to be published in April.

He said: “NHS Scotland is growing opportunities to use digital and technology-driven services to enhance health and social care.

“Better use of data and digital technology is critical to how we drive improvements in healthcare and is a key part of our plans to reform services. Through enhancing our use of technology, we can unlock opportunities for collaboration across health boards and other organisations, and it is therefore vital that this includes maximisation of digital and far better, and far faster, use of data.

“It’s great to see how world leading Seer 2 is enabling us to support collaboration and innovation across government and the NHS, providing near real time intelligence to support decision making, build new insights and enable better outcomes. This platform is just one of the ways we are embracing tech to help us as we face challenges ahead in funding pressures, inequalities and workforce.”

Gray also visited Boroughloch Medical Practice, which has a long history of embracing technology. He met with Dr Abhayaratna, who demonstrated an online consultation and workflow system that helps GP practices manage patient caseloads through operational change and digital triage.

Dr Abhayaratna said: “We’ve been making digital access available to patients since October 2019, with around 80% of patients making requests of the practice online. The system supports us in making the best use of our multi-disciplinary team’s skills, to ensure each patient gets the best care for their needs.

“This has resulted in a balanced workload for our staff and has enhanced the overall efficiency of the practice. Importantly, patient feedback tells a similarly positive story with 75% of patients reporting that our digital service is ‘better’ than previous arrangements.”