22nd February 2012
A panel of MPs and professionals from the medical sector have outlined how technology can be used to improve the nation's health, as part of a Dods Healthcare Dialogue report launch.
The Dods Healthcare Dialogue has heard from a range of speakers on the important role that technology has to play in healthcare delivery. What issues have been discussed? What have been the aims and objectives of the reception?
Katherine Ward, chief executive, UnitedHealth UK:
The reception has focused on developing ways in which to explore amongst a wider group the importance of data-driven decision-making, and then also using technology to support commissioners in making the right decisions that are going to help efficiency and quality improvements in the Health Service.
Andy Woollard, managing director, Surgery Line:
I think really the point is that technology is completely underused in the Health Service, from the moment a patient tries to speak with their surgery, all the way through the healthcare process.
Our product is trying to make the path into the surgery that much smoother, through making sure people are seen at the right time, and through trying to make the 'patient journey' as easy as possible. We also, however, need to allow clinical staff and GPs to do what they are supposed to be doing.
I think there is so much focus on the high-end technology and supporting people with complex needs, which is really important, but there is a lot of other technology, non-clinical technology that is really important.
This technology is actually a lot easier for patients to understand. Everyone uses a phone and it's a lot more accessible to people.
We found out through MP polling that parliamentarians say ‘yes, we know technology is really important' and that they back it in the NHS, but what they didn't recognise is how difficult it is for people to access their GP.
When a patient rings in the morning, they face the engaged tone and that is something everyone has a problem with. However, that's not quite on the radar of politicians and policymakers, as it should or could be.
It is not just about the patient journey, which is important, it is about the fact that we have to save £20bn in the NHS, and the intelligent use of technology is a really great way of doing it.
Cutting non-attendances, using staff and GP time better, is another way of creating efficiency that people do not always think about. It is about looking at it from a different angle.
Dr Daniel Poulter MP:
This reception aims to highlight the importance of medical technology and how medical technology can save the NHS money, whilst also looking after people better – specifically making sure that we better support people and keep them well, at home and in their own communities.
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP:
This reception is to discuss the role of technology, and to make the point that the best care is the cheapest care, and how technology can help us to achieve that.
I have always been interested, as a doctor, in the variability in the way doctors practise – be that the variation in the way people detect the early signs of cancer, or refer for screen tests, right through to the way different doctors will prescribe hugely more expensive drugs without any evidence at all that they help.
So how do we actually get all doctors providing the best standards of care? In order to do that we have to be able to identify the standards of care that we need, and the role that technology plays. We've heard some very interesting examples today of how that can happen.
How do you think technology can be used to deliver better healthcare in the UK?
Katherine Ward:
I think it is very important that as far as possible technology is used in real time, that decision-makers have the opportunity to engage with technology in their workflow.
It's also important that people are being supported, both to make evidence-based decisions and to make good, efficient decisions in real time rather than receiving a report three months later. This report may then present something that produces a decision made about six weeks earlier, which obviously doesn't help.
Andy Woollard:
One issue that should be a real focus for us as a nation is to determine how we can make sure that people can live and die in their own home, in a way that meets their needs.
This is completely important and should be a focus. This is a real priority for the majority of the population and, in the great scheme of things, this is cheaper and easier to do than something higher-end.
Dr Daniel Poulter MP:
The biggest healthcare challenge that we face is looking after an increasingly ageing population better.
People need the support of the NHS more in the later years of their life, so it is about making sure that we keep older people properly supported at home and in their communities.
It is important to have a supportive healthcare service, reaching people at home with telemedicine and helping to keep down the cost of care – also providing better care through those means, rather than waiting for people to get so unwell they need to be rushed into A+E.
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP:
Technology can be used, first of all to identify what is good care and identify who is providing it – also who is not providing it, and how we support people to provide better care.
There is also the practical end of it for patients – how patients can have more control over their medical records, how they can use technology to help them have a better experience as a patient, maybe help them to identify, for example, that their diabetes is out of control?
What do you think about the main recommendations in the report?
Katherine Ward:
I think the recommendations are different in the different elements of the report but there are consistent themes about technology both supporting decision-makers and supporting patients.
The report also focuses on empowering patients to make different decisions that could actually lead not only to better outcomes for them as patients, but also for the Health Service as a whole.
Andy Woollard:
I think firstly the report recognises that technology is a support mechanism for NHS staff. It should never replace the patient-GP contact and relationship, that's pivotal, but technology needs to underpin and support this.
Surgery Line is not just about a phone line. A lot of the agenda has been about local healthcare: if you have an area which has a very high diabetes rate, a very high stroke rate, you can have special tailored messaging – all those kinds of things. This is just one part of the big picture.
Dr Daniel Poulter MP:
The main recommendations are that we need to raise the awareness of the importance of medical technology, and we need to start looking at medical technology in a better way.
Historically, medical technology has been implemented in a very top-down manner.
If we are going to make medical technology effective we need to have an approach whereby patients and medical professionals are working together to make it work, rather than having Whitehall-driven initiatives.
That is one of the key recommendations.
It is also about making sure that there is a multi-agency approach on the ground – that social services care, housing providers, primary care and the hospitals are working together to actually drive down the costs of care, actually improve care and support patients in a more holistic way.
That is how supporting people better at home through technology can be effective.
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP:
I think really the main recommendation is that actually technology does have a role to play.
If we are going to deliver on the Nicholson Challenge to find efficiency savings in the NHS, then crucial to this is the recommendation that actually we can use technology to deliver better care.
For me that is the most important thing to come out of this report.