Almost all healthcare improvements in the past decade have involved technology at some level – from remote surgery and video case conferences to telemedicine and improvements in imaging.
“Technology in healthcare is everywhere,” says Sean Doherty, Head of Enterprise, Public Sector and IoT at Three. “At the mechanical level, equipment, such as MRIs and Cat Scans, are hugely complex examples of innovation.
However, barriers to some glaring holes in the system continue to delay improvements in some areas. “The biggest gap in health right now is the lack of joined-up data sets – some are electronic, some are paper, few are joined up, says Doherty.”
Shane Tickell, chief executive of IMS Maxims, agrees. According to Tickell, there are “major tech shifts” taking place. Genetic mapping, 3D printing and the growing affordability of genome sequencing will ultimately lead to greater precision medicine provision overall. But there are crucial changes needed to the foundations of the healthcare system. “We need to transcend the gap between expectations and reality on the ground,” he says.
“We are working with hospitals and departments where people are still writing notes, not just on paper but on paper towels, and translating that information several times. We are struggling to move people still using paper records on to enterprise systems – systems you could run entire countries off. The amalgamation of this data, at this scale, provides the output of information required for population health management and precision medicine.”
Engagement at all levels will be needed in order to ensure greater healthcare advancements.
“It’s not just the clinicians that need to be champions of technology,” adds Tickell.
“But also those at the board level of any organisation.”
Patients clearly want the system to be digitised. “MSD recently commissioned a study which revealed the Irish public’s willingness, and indeed positive demand, for greater use of digital technology in healthcare provision in Ireland, to ‘disrupt’ and address existing healthcare challenges,” says Ger Brennan, managing director, MSD Human Health.
Despite some questions being raised around the area of data protection, Ipsos MRBI found that there was overwhelming support for the concept of electronic health records.
In particular, 84 per cent of respondents expressed the belief that GPs and hospitals should have online access to patient records and that there should be a single digital view of those records throughout the health system. Some 74 per cent went further saying the public should have online access to their own health records.
With this in mind, it is essential that a smarter healthcare system has patient needs firmly at the forefront. There’s a symbiosis at play as what benefits the patient also benefits the provider. For instance, touchscreens that record patient journeys within a hospital mean decision-making is more efficient, assisting both patient and healthcare professional in a speedy resolution.
Healthcare records may be in dire need of a transplant but other areas of the healthcare system have never been in better shape. “Technological advancements are changing healthcare in many ways, but one of the most prominent ways is through visualisation and disease monitoring,” says Vafa Jamali Senior Vice President and President of Respiratory & Monitoring Solutions and Early Technologies for Medtronic. “Specifically, at Medtronic we have devices like the PillCamTM Capule, which have been used for the past 15 years and continue to evolve with technological advances. The newest capsule, the PillCamTM Crohn’s capsule, approved for use in Europe, allows physicians to visualise the entire small bowel and colon with one device reaching areas that traditional upper endoscopies or colonoscopies may not be able to access.”
“Soon people can have a quick consultation with their own GP, through services like GP Online, and a prescription can be sent via Healthmail to the local pharmacy and delivered or collected,” says Sean Doherty from Three. “This is all about improving the customer experience and delivering efficiencies by joining up the health ecosystem through technology.”