Topic starter
06/06/2026 2:06 am
TL;DR: The NHS Digital Maturity Assessment now lets organisations compare digital capability with user experience, exposing a persistent gap between deployed systems and frontline usability, according to Imprivata. The real lesson is that identity and access are not supporting functions but the control plane that determines whether digital investment translates into safe, usable care.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Imprivata: “From measurement to meaningful change: What the NHS Digital Maturity Assessment reveals about the next phase of transformation”.
Key questions
Q: How should NHS organisations reduce access friction without weakening security?
A: Start by mapping where clinicians encounter repeated authentication, inconsistent permissions, or workflow breaks, then redesign the identity journey so those steps are removed rather than compensated for later.
Q: What does the gap between digital capability and user experience tell IAM teams?
A: It tells IAM teams that deployment success is not the same as operational success.
Q: What are the signs that access governance is not supporting frontline work?
A: Frequent workarounds, duplicate logins, inconsistent access across settings, and complaints about usability all indicate that access governance is too fragmented.
Practitioner guidance
- Map access friction across the clinical journey Identify where multiple logins, repeated authentication, and inconsistent permissions interrupt frontline work across systems and settings.
- Measure usability alongside digital maturity Track digital experience and digital capability together so leadership can see where deployed systems are not translating into usable workflows.
- Standardise identity journeys across care settings Align authentication, session continuity, and entitlement handoff so clinicians do not need to relearn access each time they move between services.
Bottom line: The article shows that digital maturity and digital usability can diverge, leaving healthcare organisations with deployed systems that still frustrate frontline work.
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06/06/2026 3:35 am
Access is the real control plane of digital maturity: Infrastructure and interoperability matter, but they do not determine whether clinicians can actually use digital services safely and consistently. The article shows that usability is the missing half of maturity. If identity and access are not measured as part of transformation, the organisation will overstate progress and underdeliver value.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
A question worth separating out:
Q: When should organisations prioritise access redesign over adding more digital capability?
A: When existing systems are already deployed but clinicians still struggle to use them efficiently. If the problem is access friction rather than missing functionality, more technology will not fix the underlying issue. Redesigning identity flows is the faster route to usable maturity.
👉 Read our full editorial: NHS digital maturity shows the gap between capability and access