Most NHS trusts lack digital experience monitoring

Apogee found that 85% of NHS trusts do not proactively monitor the digital experience of frontline staff, based on Freedom of Information responses from trusts across the UK.

The data points to major gaps in how trusts track everyday technology problems that affect staff access, system performance and communication with patients. According to the figures, 28% of trusts could not say how many IT outages they experienced during the reporting period, while 40% could not confirm the total duration of clinically significant outages.

Among trusts that were able to provide figures, the reported disruption was substantial. Those organisations disclosed more than 1.1 million device-related incidents in a single year, alongside more than 360,000 IT-related incidents and more than 13,000 cumulative hours of downtime.

Average incident resolution times exceeded 48 hours. This suggests some trusts can count major problems once they occur but still lack a clear picture of how often disruption slows clinical and administrative work before it becomes a reportable incident.

Visibility gaps

The research identified three broad areas where trusts struggled to provide operational data. The first was staff access to technology. Some 67% of trusts could not say how long it typically takes staff to access their systems, and 59% did not know how many employees had access to a designated workstation.

The second was information flow through digital and paper-based processes. Despite the continued shift towards electronic records, 44% of trusts could not report how many pages were scanned into electronic patient record systems, while 41% were unable to confirm how many outpatient communications had been sent by post or hybrid mail.

The third area was patient communication. Trusts reported around five million missed or unattended appointments during the same period, yet fewer than 5% could say whether those appointments were missed because of communication failures. A further 19% could not confirm the number of missed appointments at all.

The findings come as the NHS faces pressure to expand digital services while improving productivity and reducing waiting times. In that context, the inability to measure basic points of friction such as login delays, workstation access and communication breakdowns raises questions about how easily trusts can judge whether existing systems are helping staff or hindering them.

Apogee said its methodology was based on two Freedom of Information requests sent to 203 NHS trusts across the UK between January and March 2026, producing 244 responses. It combined those responses with NHS workforce data to estimate wider time lost to access delays, document handling and other system interruptions.

Using that approach, Apogee estimated that patient-facing and administrative staff lose around eight minutes each working day to routine operational friction. Scaled across a modelled workforce of 1.2 million staff over 220 working days, that equates to about 35.2 million hours a year.

Applying a blended hourly cost of £30, the company put the annual productivity loss at about £1.06 billion. It said the calculation used conservative assumptions drawn from published data and trust responses.

Operational strain

The figures add to a wider debate over the resilience of NHS technology infrastructure. While policy discussions often focus on new digital tools, artificial intelligence and record modernisation, day-to-day operational strain still depends on whether staff can log in quickly, retrieve information and communicate with patients without repeated delays.

Poor visibility makes it harder for trust leaders to prioritise investment. If organisations cannot identify where outages occur, how long they last or which parts of the workflow create avoidable delays, they may struggle to decide whether to invest in end-user devices, network resilience, workflow redesign or communications systems.

Apogee also pointed to an example at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, where changes to how information was accessed and managed across systems reduced duplication and improved operational flow. The company said the work freed up time for frontline activity, though it did not quantify the impact in the figures released alongside the research.

James Clark, Chief Executive Officer at Apogee, said the issue was not simply the choice of new systems.

"The debate about technology in the NHS often focuses on which systems trusts should buy next," Clark said.

"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."