Last month, the Government unveiled its Delivery Plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of six million people awaiting hospital treatment across the UK.
Addressing the waiting lists, which, according to ministers may not start falling for another two years, the plans propose prioritising demand according to clinical need, increasing hospital capacity, and making greater use of the independent sector.
However, technology solutions, which include innovations in AI, IoT, data, analytics, and the cloud are also playing an important role in relieving hospital pressures.
And, over the next year and beyond, these technologies will continue to support GP and hospital staff in the reduction of waiting lists at this crucial time.
What does remote healthcare look like today?
Telemedicine, as an example, has been used extensively over the last two years of the pandemic and has enabled patients to continue receiving the treatment they need from healthcare providers, even while in lockdown or isolation.
According to McKinsey, overall telehealth use for office visits and outpatient care was 78 times higher in April 2020 than it was in February 2020.
Beyond facilitating virtual appointments, telemedicine can also enable patients to be safely monitored in their homes using technologies that collect, track, and share relevant and real-time healthcare data with care teams
Now, as the pandemic slows and healthcare turns to implementing the Government’s Living with COVID plan, people continue to be receptive to telemedicine.
According to Nuffield Trust, 63% of UK adults said they would be willing to have a video consultation with their GP for a minor ailment, and 55% for advice on an ongoing condition or problem.
But the opportunities don’t stop there.
Beyond facilitating virtual appointments, telemedicine can also enable patients to be safely monitored in their homes using technologies that collect, track, and share relevant and real-time healthcare data with care teams.
Over time, these insights could inform and facilitate the use of electronic personal health records or personal health apps that can store medical information, record physical activity, and schedule reminders for taking medicine.
Looking into the future, remote healthcare technology could even facilitate remote surgeries, enabling doctors who are not physically in the same location as patients to operate successfully and efficiently.
Maximising patient involvement
Innovations taking place within telemedicine can be seen to be part of a wider trend of empowering patients to play an increasingly-central role in the management of their own health.
For example, patient portals, which give patients the ability to access their own healthcare record from anywhere in the world, mean they can benefit from greater visibility into their own healthcare journey.
By increasing patient involvement, healthcare providers can improve doctor’s decision making, create a far-more-transparent healthcare process, and ultimately, drive better quality patient care
This is a relatively small step, but historically a patient’s healthcare record was only reviewed by medical professionals so patient portals are helping open up this healthcare process to patients for the first time and giving them license for more control over their own wellbeing.
Likewise, because patients can access their record from their own personal devices, such as a phone or laptop, they can help ensure all information – such as correct allergy information or treatment details – are correct and up to date.
By increasing patient involvement, healthcare providers can improve doctor’s decision making, create a far-more-transparent healthcare process, and ultimately, drive better quality patient care.
More broadly, this is coinciding with a number of consumer trends that are encouraging people to take greater responsibility in monitoring their own health.
For example, wearable devices are being used to monitor daily step count, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, sleep patterns, and body composition.
And this is allowing people to provide medical information from home that can help bridge the gaps between hospital visits.
Processes like these can enable patients to share valuable healthcare data that couldn’t be easily obtained through a typical doctor’s visit. This data gives doctors a better overview of the patients they care for, and allows them to take a more-informed, data-driven approach to delivering healthcare.
Beyond facilitating virtual appointments, telemedicine can also enable patients to be safely monitored in their homes using technologies that collect, track, and share relevant and real-time healthcare data with care teams
Current challenges to overcome
While advancements in remote healthcare present huge opportunities for improving efficiency both inside and outside the traditional healthcare settings – as well as play an important role in reducing hospital wait times – they understandably require additional investment.
Some healthcare trusts impacted by squeezed budgets or interoperability challenges across different or aging healthcare IT systems may find it challenging to adopt more digital ways of working without extra support from the government
Beyond the financial investment, additional training is required to ensure staff can harness technology solutions to their greatest benefit.
Because of these needs, some healthcare trusts impacted by squeezed budgets or interoperability challenges across different or aging healthcare IT systems may find it challenging to adopt more digital ways of working without extra support from the government.
What’s next for telemedicine?
Beyond the pandemic, telemedicine will remain an important option for patients receiving care outside the traditional healthcare setting.
As we unpack what the Government’s Living with COVID plan will mean for the NHS, it’s important that healthcare organisations take this opportunity to look for ways to embed greater remote healthcare technology into their strategies for 2022.
Embracing new technologies and care pathways across healthcare organisations could play a crucial role in addressing England’s treatment backlog more effectively, enabling patients to better access the care they need, when they need it
This could involve devising robust plans for addressing fluctuations in hospital demand as well as understanding the key technological advancements required to make this vision a reality, such as interoperability across different platforms.
Where appropriate, embracing new technologies and care pathways across healthcare organisations could play a crucial role in addressing England’s treatment backlog more effectively, enabling patients to better access the care they need, when they need it.
