Over the past two years, the UK has well and truly challenged the status quo for healthcare. Now, we need to make sure the digital change we’ve all experienced isn’t just a flash in the pan.
Sajid Javid recently set out a series of ambitious digital priorities for the NHS, in a conference speech given ahead of publishing a new Digital Heath Plan this Spring.
He talked about emerging from the impact of Covid with patients and clinicians having new, and higher, expectations for how we continue to deliver better health and social care in the UK.
Javid used the NHS app as an example of just how far expectations have changed. Healthcare in the hands of 24 million people, with over half of adults in England now carrying it around on the phone in their pocket.
And why shouldn’t it be just as easy and safe to access personal healthcare information as it is to order a takeaway? Or speak to a GP over video call as simple as booking a taxi?
Technology is nothing new for the health sector. But embracing transformation has been anything but straightforward over the years, and the challenges well established.
Alongside legacy issues around agility, there was the very real problem that patients were reluctant – even nervous – to use apps and websites for accessing services or for tracking their health data.
Uptake of the NHS app is just one example of the about-turn we’ve all been through.
Today, 35% of UK patients use virtual consultations, compared to just 6% pre-pandemic, according to Accenture. And a further 14% use electronic patient records to access their data versus 4% previously. The tide is turning in the UK as we steadily embrace digital technology.
Covid has accelerated digital adoption and made people more confident in how the right technology and the right approach can deliver better outcomes. According to our research with the Centre for Economics and Business Research, health organisations accelerated their digital progress by more than four years during the pandemic.
But the UK’s health and social care sector has to take digital transformation forward in a more structured and streamlined way to build on the gains made. There needs to be a focus on how we shape transformation around the end goals of better patient and employee outcomes.
Because when it comes to our health, and the wellbeing of those we care for, there can be no half measures.