Apogee finds NHS Trusts Lack Visibility into Frontline IT Experience

Apogee research finds majority of NHS Trusts lack proactive monitoring of Frontline Digital Experience
FOI request finds another 28% of NHS Trusts could not say how many IT outages they had.

Apogee recently revealed that as much as 85% of NHS trusts do not proactively monitor the digital experience of frontline staff, leaving many without a clear understanding of how technology is performing or where every day IT issues are impacting patient care.

The findings point to a wider operational visibility challenge across the NHS.

According to the research, 40% of NHS trusts could not confirm the total duration of clinically significant IT outages, while a further 28% were unable to say how many IT outages they had experienced during the reporting period. While trusts generate vast amounts of technology and operational data, many cannot consistently measure where delays occur or how technology issues affect frontline workflows.

Trusts that were able to provide data reported more than 1.1 million device-related incidents in a single year — an average of more than 9,000 per trust — alongside over 360,000 IT-related incidents. Responding trusts also recorded more than 13,000 cumulative hours of downtime, with average incident resolution times exceeding 48 hours.

Three key visibility gaps emerged across the research:

Access to technology: 67% of trusts could not say how long it typically takes staff to access their systems, while 59% did not know how many employees have access to a designated workstation.
Information flow: Despite continued digitisation, 44% of trusts could not report how many pages were scanned into electronic patient record systems. 41% were unable to confirm how many outpatient communications had been issued via post or hybrid mail.
Patient communication: Trusts reported around five million missed or unattended appointments during the same period. However, fewer than 5% could say if these were caused by communication failures, and 19% could not confirm the number of missed appointments at all.

James Clark, CEO at Apogee, comments:

“The debate about technology in the NHS often focuses on which systems trusts should buy next, but our data shows a more basic problem: many trusts do not know how well current systems are working for staff each day.

“You cannot improve what you cannot measure. Right now, many trusts have limited insight into basic indicators like access times, outage impact, and patient communication failures. This makes it incredibly difficult to improve workflows, prioritise investment or demonstrate the value of digital transformation.

“Before adding new tools or looking at how AI can help, trusts need a clearer view of how work happens today. Better operational visibility gives NHS IT teams the evidence they need to remove friction, improve reliability and make better-informed decisions about future investment.”

Reducing Duplication and Improving Workflows

At Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, working with Apogee, improvements to how information was accessed and managed across systems helped reduce inefficiencies in day-to-day workflows.

By simplifying processes and improving how data moved between teams, the trust reduced duplication and improved operational flow, releasing time back into frontline activity.