Dear Mr Streeting,
We met at Newcastle University at a Labour Party meeting during the last few weeks of the Conservative government.
We were on a panel discussion about the challenges facing the health service and as the oldest member of the panel, I
recounted my experiences working in the NHS for over 30 years.
I started my career as a junior doctor when the system was on its knees, and having worked during three terms of the Conservative government and the Tony Blair government, I reassured the audience that Labour had the ability to fix our currently very broken NHS.
Only a few weeks after the panel event a general election was called, and so here we are – I’m hoping that you and your ministerial team will prove me right.
And here's the rub, AI won't change bedsheets or bathe a vulnerable elderly person any time soon
I was delighted to read the recently published Elective Care Recovery Plan and like everyone else, I'm excited about the prospect of scaling AI in the NHS.
However, as someone with two elderly relatives hovering between the NHS and social care, I’m a carer more than a digital transformation expert at the moment.
And here's the rub, AI won't change bedsheets or bathe a vulnerable elderly person any time soon.
One of our biggest challenges is that we’re short of trained staff. What can you do? Train more staff? This takes time and we need solutions now.
The biggest untapped resource in the NHS is its patients
Throw more money at it? What money? We all know the financial constraints, so demand will continue to outstrip supply.
If only there was a solution to the overwhelming demand. Well, there is. The biggest untapped resource in the NHS is its patients.
Previously, when the NHS faced being overwhelmed by demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw fast and effective decisions made to empower patients to do more for themselves, aided by technology.
For example, as soon as the vaccines became available local NHS teams sprang up. I got a phone call from a friend who is a GP who asked if I could remember how to give injections.
Can health tech and patient empowerment work in mental health settings?
“Pointy end in the patient, right?” I replied. The following day I vaccinated 120 elderly patients.
The invitation process was automated from the GP systems and people came to the vaccination centre (Newcastle Racecourse) and received a standardised assessment.
If they passed, they queued up for a vaccination much as they would queue to serve themselves at the supermarket.
Fast forward to this year and I explained to the audience at a recent digital health event how mental health services are particularly imperilled, with waiting times running into years rather than months.
The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet, Mr Streeting
These services are now where NHS dentistry was 20 years ago – sadly at the point of only becoming an option to those who can afford private care.
Can health tech and patient empowerment work in mental health settings? Well, yes it can, Mr Streeting. And it’s already been proven.
For example, providers like Sleepstation – which combines same-day online screening, assessments and remote diagnostics with person-led interventions in the community have been available in parts of the NHS for over a decade.
These digi-physical solutions empower patients to take more control over their healthcare by receiving treatment at home, when it suits them.
One of our biggest challenges is that we’re short of trained staff
Through guided self-help, coaching, and CBT methods, patients learn how to manage more of their condition themselves.
Sleepstation, for example, helps thousands of NHS patients solve their insomnia every month without the risks inherent in sleeping pills and at a fraction of the cost of conventional treatment, with no waiting lists - it is entirely scalable.
It’s clinically proven to have higher efficacy rates than traditional in-person hospital appointments and has shown to tackle rising elective referrals, limited capacity, and delays in diagnosis for sleep and wellbeing concerns.
For example, in a hospital in the West Midlands, when it was not available, there was a 31% increase in referrals to hospital.
If we are to urgently free up clinical time to save the NHS from being overwhelmed, empowering patients through digital tools and giving them more control over their health and care has to be part of the future, specifically the Ten-Year Plan.
The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet, Mr Streeting.