Impact of the digital transformation of health and care
Understanding the different categories of the workforce impacted by digital transformation in health and social care is crucial to tailoring the development of appropriate skills and capabilities.
DHI categorises this workforce as:
Who they are: This group includes all those directly involved in patient care and service delivery, such as clinicians, social workers, public health professionals, as well as management and support roles.
Skills needed: These staff members require digital skills to effectively use digital tools and solutions in their daily work. Training focuses on enhancing their ability to interact with digital health and social care platforms, electronic health records, and other digital tools that facilitate direct care and service management.
Who they are: This category comprises software developers, engineers, programmers, UX designers, product owners, cyber security experts, and others involved in creating and maintaining digital solutions.
Skills needed: While deeply technical, this group also benefits from soft skills and transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. These competencies are essential for ensuring that digital solutions are user-friendly and effectively meet the needs of end-users in health and social care settings.
Technical workforce
Who they are: This group includes data analysts, data scientists, business intelligence professionals, and clinical informaticians who manage and analyse the vast amounts of data generated by digital health and social care solutions.
Skills needed: Advanced digital, data analytics, and informatics skills are crucial for this workforce. They also require soft skills to ensure that insights generated from data are communicated effectively and can inform decision-making in clinical health and social care settings.
Groups 2 and 3 are align with the Digital, Data and Technology job (DDaT) categories. For further reference and a deeper understanding of roles and competencies in the Digital, Data, and Technology (DDaT) professions within the Scottish government context, you can visit the official DDaT profession page.
Specialist knowledge, information, digital, and data workforce
