One of the things wrong with the health service is that it doesn’t delight the people who use it.
That might sound like a strange word to use given the NHS regularly deals with illness and death, but if the service it delivers is of a high standard, even the bereaved can be “delighted” at the quality of care given to their loved one.
Most healthcare is adequate (some, as we know from the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry, is shocking), but in many cases the service that patients receive – from waiting times to involvement in decisions about treatment – could be improved significantly.
As Jeremy Hunt settles into his new job as Health Secretary, he will be busily working out how to take forward what his predecessor, Andrew Lansley, started – slicing tens of billions of pounds off the country’s healthcare bill while “transforming” the NHS so that it better serves its patients – at a time when patient demands are rising rapidly.
An impossible task given that it sounds like a contradiction in terms?
Many people think so.
But there is one specific way to make significant improvements to the NHS and save money in the process – and that’s to make much greater use of technology.
Since the last time the health service had a makeover, during the Blair years, technology has leapt ahead. And not only medical technologies, or the “bureaucratic” hospital systems we’ve come to learn about through the failings of the NHS’ National Programme for IT: the internet and social media have revolutionised how we access information and how we communicate with people in all areas of life.
Earlier this year, the Department of Health published its Information Strategy, which promised the availability of online medical records by 2015 and, in time, online access to letters, test results, personal care plans and needs assessments. Such changes, it said, would save the health service nearly £2.5b over a decade.
Last year, NHS medical director Professor Bruce Keogh announced an even more radical plan – to enable patients to consult their GP remotely rather than turning up at the surgery.
Already this is being done by some private doctors – and regular viewers of Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic are now familiar with Dr Christian and Dr Dawn using Skype to “see” someone in discomfort.
Research carried out recently by NHS local, a Birmingham-based digital service for NHS Midlands and East, found that more than half of patients would Skype their GP if the option was available. Although less than one per cent of survey respondents had used video calling to see their doctor, 52 per cent said they would happily do so.
Consulting your GP from the comfort of your front room not only saves you time and money (no travel expenses, no journey or waiting time), it is cost-effective and efficient for the NHS: GPs would be freed up to see in person patients with serious problems.
NHS local, where I am head of strategy, is at the heart of helping to transform the health service by enabling it to engage with patients (as well as staff, providers and commissioners) more frequently using new technology.
Originally commissioned and funded by the NHS in the West Midlands, NHS local uses websites, interactive apps, learning products and social media to provide “care continuity”.
For example, one of the tools we’ve developed is a website called Personalised Care Planning (PCP), which enables people with a long-term health condition to have more input and control over how that condition is managed. Not only does this approach empower the patient, it potentially saves the NHS a lot of money.
Of course, it’s not all about delivering faster and cheaper; the new-look health service also has to be safer.
One reason the Mid Staffordshire tragedy took so long to emerge was that the complaints procedure was inefficient at best. Today, technology allows patients to – almost instantly – alert not only the NHS centre or team to poor care or service, but to share their dissatisfaction with the public.
Another smart phone app we’ve developed at NHS local, called Talk to… enables patients to scan a QR code on a hospital poster that takes them to where they can leave a comment.
That comment goes straight on to the hospital website and also to the relevant ward, so that staff can respond swiftly.
However, even if every household and GP surgery had access to the likes of Skype, there’s no getting away from the fact that nothing can replace physically sitting in front of your GP.
Nor can deftness with a phone app prevent you from needing an operation.
Just as things go wrong with the NHS system as it is, so there’s plenty that can go wrong with technological ways of doing things: Skype, for instance, only works if the line is clear and the computer doesn’t crash.
So when we talk about technology being the way forward, we don’t mean it’s a replacement: rather, if done properly, it can enhance healthcare provision. Used well and in tandem with face-to-face care, the NHS of the future really does have the potential to delight its patients.
* Robin Vickers is a Birmingham-based health entrepreneur and head of strategy at NHS local
