from cost centre to time savings

Investing in digital skills:

It is Tuesday morning, half past eight. Home care nurse Rian is standing in Mr Gerritsen's living room and logs on to the electronic patient record (ECD). She manages to log in, but it takes a long time. Once in the system, Rian wants to record her observations and register which medication she has administered, but she can't quite remember how to do that. She searches through the screens, opening menus at random. Mr Gerritsen waits patiently, but quite a bit of time is lost in the process; every single day. Time that Rian would rather spend with her clients.

In 2026, these kinds of digital obstacles are unfortunately no exception: every day, healthcare workers lose valuable time due to systems that are not intuitive to use or because their basic skills are insufficiently developed. Conclusion investigated how healthcare professionals view digitisation and spoke not only to IT decision-makers and management, but also to those who use the technology in practice. The outcome? Digital systems should make work easier, but in practice, half of healthcare workers lose time every day due to insufficient digital skills. Research by ZorgfocuZ into time savings through digital skills shows what can be gained: digitally skilled colleagues save more than four hours a week in general practice and more than two hours in long-term care.

It is not the complex tasks that cause problems, but rather the daily activities. Navigating systems, reporting, recording medication: relatively simple tasks that quickly take up a lot of time for digitally less skilled employees. Digitally skilled employees can perform these tasks routinely, leaving more time for the patient.

All in all, it is a familiar paradox: in our research, two-thirds of healthcare professionals indicate that employees are given too little time to learn new technology, while it is precisely this lack of digital skills that costs a huge amount of time. The result? Systems remain underused, frustration increases, and a quarter of healthcare workers even experience increased workload due to technology. The remedy becomes part of the problem.

Investing in digital skills immediately saves time. Research in Dutch hospitals shows that this not only saves time, but also reduces stress and increases job satisfaction. Employees who become more digitally skilled can do their work independently. That is satisfying.

But: the training must be done properly. Not through a one-off training course that is forgotten after a month, or an external course that is unrelated to daily practice. What does work? Start with the basics. Before organisations experiment with AI or other advanced technology, the foundational digital skills must be in place. One in five organisations in our survey indicate that they are still working on getting basic IT in order. That's nothing to be ashamed of, but it is a signal: innovation starts with a solid foundation.

It is also crucial that organisations understand that not everyone learns in the same way. Some employees pick up new technology quickly, while others need more time and guidance. Successful organisations often deploy colleagues as digital coaches: someone who is slightly more digitally skilled and helps other employees. They also offer training that is tailored to specific work processes, is provided in phases, and gives employees room to practise without compromising patient care. Furthermore, they often structurally incorporate digital skills into job descriptions and progress interviews, so that it becomes a continuous development point rather than a one-off project.

Rian could struggle with the ECD again tomorrow, or she could learn today how to work effectively in the system. The choice is up to her organisation. Investing in digital skills pays off. Those who wait and see lose valuable time every day; organisations that do take a structural approach quickly see the difference.