Transforming care through technology

He argues that technology can give health professionals the opportunity to deliver better patient care, improve efficiencies and lower long-term costs.

Healthcare and technology have gone hand in hand throughout history. From the earliest surgical tools of the Ancient Egyptians, through the development of pacemakers, to today’s state-of-the-art prosthetics, technological innovation has been at the heart of excellence in medical care. Nowadays, IT and digital technology continues to transform the way medicine is developed and, until recently, was the subject of significant investment from central Government. Since the coalition Government’s announcement at the end of September 2011 that the National Programme for IT would be scrapped, the future of information technology in the healthcare sector has seemed uncertain. The project, which has already cost the NHS £12 bn, was the biggest civilian IT project of its kind in the world, but was considered to not be fully fit for purpose to provide the services required by the NHS. As a result, the programme was to be ‘dismembered and reconstituted’, replacing a one size fits all approach with one that could be delivered more cost effectively at a regional level. The abandoning of the programme means that a number of schemes intended to modernise the National Health Service are unlikely to be delivered. These would have included a national email system and the ability to transfer X-rays and prescriptions electronically, as well as a care record that would have allowed hospitals and surgeries to share patients’ medical information electronically.

Efficiency and care benefits