Introduction
The RCPCH Digital Health Programme (DHP) has been recently established to promote digital ways of working in paediatrics and child health.
Key opportunities to support the paediatric workforce in adopting emergent digital health technologies include:
- raising awareness of the available safe and effective digital health solutions for paediatrics
- progressing digital capabilities across paediatric professions and disciplines
- minimising barriers to accessing technologies in healthcare.
These will be delivered through informative resources and advocating for the responsible use of digital health technologies.
The first task towards developing our learning resources is to obtain a baseline measure of RCPCH members’ views of digital health technologies, and understand where digital skills gaps remain in paediatrics. In late 2024 and early 2025 we ran two baseline surveys: digital health solutions and digital health skills.
This report outlines the background and results from the digital health skills survey.
Survey background
The digital health skills survey was distributed online to RCPCH members from October 2024 until March 2025. The survey asked RCPCH members about how the College can best support members achieve and maintain levels of digital healthcare technology skills now and in the future.
The aim was to better understand the skills and development landscape. The survey asked members to:
- measure their levels of confidence and experiences in using digital tech
- state their digital health skills needs
- highlight their preferences for digital skills training and resources
- indicate to what extent they were able to input into digital healthcare decision-making.
Results
There were 412 responses received worldwide. This summary will outline the 355 responses received from UK based members. Not all questions were answered by all respondents, so there are varied frequencies and counts per question.
Respondent demographics
The survey respondents were from differing clinical grades and roles. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents were Consultants, 15% were from higher specialty trainee ST3+ cohort, followed by 7% in SAS roles, and 4% in ST1-ST3 and Core training. Fewer responses were received from Foundation doctors and medical students (see Figure 1).
Figure 2 shows the number of years respondents had worked in the health sector. There were 355 responses received for this question. Overall, most respondents had worked in healthcare for at least 11 years or more. This triangulates with the number of responses received from those in a consultant role.
Digital health skills, experience and confidence in using new technologies
Respondents were asked to report on their skill level in using digital health technologies in practice. Using digital health technologies was defined in the survey as being able to navigate emailing, electronic patient records, clinical decision support systems, as well as utilising digital imaging software, and intelligent data-driven technologies such as AI powered systems.
Overall, the majority of respondents (59%) self-reported to be basic users of digital health technologies, however 32% stated that they were confident users. Only 8% stated they were advanced in their digital health skills, and 2% stated they had limited knowledge (see Figure 3).
The survey also asked how often respondents used digital health technologies to deliver healthcare. More than half of the respondents used digital health technologies on a daily basis (55%) compared with 20% reported to have used them weekly and 25% used them less frequently.
Confidence in adapting to new digital healthcare technologies is an important indicator for readiness to adopt new digital solutions in practice. Respondents were asked whether they thought they were confident at adapting to new digital technologies in healthcare. Overall, the data showed that while 31% of respondents indicated they were very or extremely confident in adapting to new technologies, 25% were still either somewhat or not confident at all (22% and 3% respectively); however, only 44% were moderately confident. A breakdown of confidence level by years worked in the healthcare service indicated that those with fewer years’ experience in the healthcare sector were less confident in adapting to new technologies than those who had had 40+ years. The majority of respondents regardless of years in the healthcare sector were moderately confident (see Figure 4).
Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems are an integral part of digitalised healthcare. Respondents answered whether they felt they were proficient in navigating EHRs in their practice. The survey showed that 13% reported themselves to be novice at being able to navigate EHRs, 65% were intermediate, and 22% reported they were advanced.
Telehealth consultations became widely used during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey asked respondents about whether they had participated in telehealth consultations in their work. The majority of respondents had used telehealth consultations (70%). When asked how confident respondents were in conducting virtual consultations, 52% were moderately confident, 29% were very confident, and 19% were not confident.
Overall, confidence in navigating EHRs, conducting virtual consultations, and adapting to new digital technologies was similar across these three categories. Figure 5 shows the percentage of respondents who reported their level of proficiency or confidence in these areas.
Experience with digital health technology implementation and training
The survey explored previous training received by respondents in digital health and their understanding of related key issues. When asked whether training had been received in digital literacy or health informatics, only 22% reported they had received formal training. For those who had received training (n = 78), they were asked how helpful the training was, and 96% specified that the training was either somewhat or very helpful to them (73% and 23% respectively).
Data stewardship is a key task with the adoption of digital health technologies in healthcare. It is important for users to understand data protection requirements for all patient data captured, stored, used, and shared for direct care purposes. Respondents were asked how well they believed they understood the data security and patient privacy regulations related to digital health. Figure 6 shows that the majority (73%) reported that they had an adequate understanding of data security and patient privacy regulations for digital health technologies. Only 7% had an expert understanding and 21% had limited understanding.
Perceived impact of emerging digital health technologies on healthcare and the paediatric workforce
The survey explored the perceived impact of digital health technologies on healthcare delivery and on the workforce. Figure 7 shows which technologies or health informatics topics would most impact healthcare. The top 5 technologies thought to potentially have the most impact by respondents were:
- Advanced clinical imaging would be most impactful (84% selected this as either extremely or very impactful)
- Population level clinical data analytics and integrations (77% selected this as either extremely or very impactful)
- Genomics, CRISPR, and personalised/precision medicine (74% selected this as either extremely or very impactful)
- Telehealth, wearables, and remote patient monitoring (68% selected this as either extremely or very impactful)
- AI, AGI (artificial generative intelligence), Large Language Models (LLMs), machine learning (61% selected this as either extremely or very impactful)
Additionally, the same emerging technologies were ranked by respondents according to how important they were perceived to be in future paediatric roles. Figure 8 shows the level of importance each technology was assigned by respondents. The top 5 technologies believed to be the most important in future roles were:
- Population level clinical data analytics and integrations (68% selected this as either extremely or very important to their role)
- Advanced clinical imaging (67% selected this as either extremely or very important to their role)
- Genomics, CRISPR, Personalised / precision medicine (61% selected this as either extremely or very important to their role)
- Telehealth, wearables, and remote patient monitoring (56% selected this as either extremely or very important to their role)
- Automated / assisted medical software development (50% selected this as either extremely or very important to their role)
Topic preferences for digital health skills training
When asked which emergent technologies respondents were most interested in (see Figure 9), the top 5 technologies which had the highest level of interest from respondents were:
- Advanced clinical imaging (68% respondents were interested in this technology)
- Population-level clinical data analytics and integrations (65% interested)
- Telehealth technologies and remote monitoring (53% interested)
- Genomics and personalised medicine (53% interested)
- AI and machine learning (49% interested in this technology)
Preferences for digital health skills training and learning resources
The survey asked which topics respondents would find most useful to have training and resources about. The respondents ranked the most important to least important topics from a selection of 10 topics. The highest ranked topic of interest was ‘optimising use of existing digital systems’ and the least important ranked topic was ‘digital leadership’. The most commonly selected topics were about using data to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery (see Figure 10).
Clinician involvement in digital healthcare technology design
The survey explored the extent to which respondents felt they were able to influence or be included in design of digital health technologies. The first question in this section asked whether respondents felt they were able to influence the design of digital health technology in their workplace. Fifty-three percent stated they sometimes were able to influence how digital systems fitted into their roles. Thirty percent stated they never were able to influence digital health technology design for their roles, and only 4% stated they always had input.
Respondents were then asked whether they were able to contribute to the improvement of digital healthcare technologies they used. Examples of this included whether they had received opportunities to collect user experience with the digital technologies from staff and patients, and whether they could access usage metrics and use the insights to improve the technology design and development. Fifty-three percent indicated that they were not able to contribute to the improvement of digital health technology used vs 47% stating they were able to do so.
Conclusions
The Digital Health Skills Survey has provided valuable insights into the current landscape of digital competencies within the paediatric workforce. While a majority of respondents identified as basic or moderately confident users of digital health technologies, there is a clear appetite for further training—particularly in areas such as advanced clinical imaging, data analytics, and telehealth. The findings highlight both the enthusiasm for digital transformation and the need for targeted support to bridge existing skills gaps. Importantly, the survey underscores the necessity of involving clinicians more actively in the design and improvement of digital systems to ensure they align with real-world clinical needs.
These results will inform the development of tailored learning resources and strategic initiatives within the RCPCH Digital Health Programme. By addressing the identified training priorities and enhancing opportunities for clinician input, the Programme can play a pivotal role in equipping paediatric professionals with the skills needed to navigate and shape the future of digital healthcare.