IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Think about how you use technology in your daily life (and I'm only including examples of what my 72 year old father does as well). You make appointments, shop, book tickets and find information by internet. You keep in touch with remote family and friends through face to face meetups on skype. You check you bank account on-line and make changes. You adjust settings on your mobile to suit you, use reminders and send messages. All from the comfort of your own home. Our lives have been transformed by technology. So why hasn't the NHS made intelligent use of technology? It's a triple win on offer. Communication technology reduces costs, improves quality and drives innovation and growth (see our report Healthcare without walls for the evidence).

A heart clinic in Southampton sees four times as many patients now it monitors pace-makers remotely and patients don't have to travel to hospital for check-ups. A prison in the north of England saves the tax-payer hundreds of thousands of pounds through using remote teleconsultation that means prisoners don't have to be chaperoned into NHS clinics. Technology and pharmaceutical companies have been designing telehealth software and pathways that mean people with diabetes have their blood sugar and blood pressure monitored through readings on their mobile phones and they are alerted by text if the readings are abnormal. University Hospital Birmingham now enables it's in-patients to communicate digitally with staff - even the chef - from their beds. Yet these are small scale, exceptional examples of what industry and clinicians have pioneered by themselves.

In many cases you and I still have 19th century paper notes, doctors who can't access our hospital records (let alone we ourselves having accessing to them), paper prescriptions that we have to pick up in person, visits to the doctors for routine measurements and advice. Very little is convenient and the use of technology is marginal. Yet the opportunities for radical change and improved efficiency and convenience are immense. The NHS IT programme fiasco has left the NHS over a decade behind other sectors but we can't just tear up the old flawed strategy and ignore the need for a new one - radical change in the way care is delivered and the IT standards and infrastructure needed to deliver it.

Unless and until the NHS moves into the 21st century and transforms the way it delivers services, it will continue to fall below our expectations and leave sick people vulnerable. Doctors and nurses will be tied up with time-consuming processes instead of being freed up to meet the growing demands and giving their time to those who really need a face-to-face consultations. Government need to set the framework, standards and payment systems, then our local NHS services need to work with industry to bring healthcare into the 21st century and in many cases, into the convenience of our homes.

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Autor(en)/Author(s): Julia Manning

Quelle/Source: Daily Mail, 21.10.2011

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