By Lucy Cowcill, head of communications, BT Global Government and Health
At every healthcare conference I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a fair few), we’ve been told that the digital revolution is passing the NHS by. We’ve heard how the NHS is ten years behind many other industries in embracing technology and learnt how much we can achieve through embracing IT.
At EHealth Insider Live, the opening keynote delivered the same message. But with a twist.
With a now estimated £30 billion gap between funding and demand, the NHS has again been described as at a crossroads.
NHS England’s recent Five Year Forward View marks another document in the history of the information revolution in healthcare, but perhaps it will be the ‘turning point’ many have described it as.
What we heard about at EHI Live wasn’t a vision or a view; it was news of a framework setting out how people can be encouraged to take control of their own health and care and how the NHS can improve quality and efficiency.
The event itself focused less on “gadgets and gizmos” but on how to embed innovations into day to day working, sharing and learning the lessons of those at the forefront.
We heard about technology as a catalyst for change – something we’ll be returning to in the coming weeks – wearable tech, a fair amount about social media and lots and lots about apps.
And as the second round of the Nursing Technology Fund opened, there was also a continued focus on giving clinicians real-time access to information.
Having the infrastructure in place to deliver the demands of today and to innovate for the future was the substance of conversations on exhibition stands, with wi-fi, secure hosting and interoperability solutions all topics I heard discussed.
Indeed, the ability to deliver integrated care remains at the heart of not only the dream of many patients with chronic diseases, their carers, but also of the NHS itself.
It is easy to be cynical about whether the NHS can catch up the digital gap it faces when you present pieces of paper to get an x-ray when you’ve been to A&E, get a leaflet to take home or get sent home in under 5 minutes when you’ve travelled two hours to see a specialist. But it is those very reasons that mean we must believe it is not only possible to close the gap, but in fact to start leading the way. After all, technology is magic.
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