Max Parmentier, CEO and Co-Founder of Birdie, discusses the digital transformation within the UK’s healthcare system and how new solutions can support patient care
According to a recent survey published by the British Medical Journal, only a quarter of the UK’s 182 NHS trusts use digital systems, even though 88% have access to them. To illustrate what this means day-to-day, there’s a trust that uses roughly 25 million pages of
A4 paper each year.
In 2023, this is a bizarre reality. The government launched the NHS’s digital transformation almost five years ago in the ‘Long Term Plan’. That same year, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that email should replace paper and fax machines in hospitals. Yet, according to a Health and Social Care Committee report earlier this year, parts of the NHS lack even ‘the most basic functioning IT equipment’. The report referred to the health service’s progress as ‘slow’ and ‘uneven’.
How legacy systems affect health outcomes
This failure to adopt digital technologies costs more than administration speed: it costs people their health.
The UK’s healthcare system is under more strain than ever, especially considering the rising age of the population. The number of people aged 65 and over increased from 9.2 million in 2011 to over 11 million in 2021, which has applied a huge amount of pressure to both the health and social care sectors, both suffering extreme staffing shortages.
Paper records hinder these sectors from working at the efficiency required to serve our older population’s basic needs, let alone offer them a more personalised form of care which takes their unique needs and wants into account, helping them maintain their health for longer.
Digital systems, on the other hand, are infinitely faster and more efficient at matching the needs of a modern care model. They allow the possibility of rapid and easy data sharing, creating interoperability between the health and social care sectors. This not only accelerates processing speeds, getting patients in front of professionals quicker, but reduces the likelihood of human error, overall improving the quality of service.
Digital technologies, when used in conjunction with patient data, also open up possibilities for better patient outcomes. Through data collection, technology provides all levels of professionals with a more holistic view of a person’s wellbeing. This insight empowers professionals to make even more informed decisions about the best course of treatment or care for an individual – helping further personalised care.
Combining comprehensive data collection methods with advanced predictive analytics enables proactive, as opposed to reactive, care. This means that health and social care organisations can work to help prevent deterioration from occurring, which leads to a better quality of life for the people receiving care.
While using paper records, none of this is possible.
The health and social care sectors: Why digital transformation has been slow
So, given these clear benefits, why has the UK’s healthcare system been so slow to progress to digital technologies? Many outside the health and social care sectors assume that it’s the result of funding shortfalls – an unavoidable problem. But as insiders already know, and as the BMJ’s survey reveals, it’s down to more than that. The technology is there, but healthcare organisations just aren’t leveraging it.
This is a matter of approach. Legacy systems, such as paper patient records, have become embedded into the UK’s health and social care sectors causing both to work in silos, perpetuating a lack of visibility and interoperability. If we take the hospital discharge process as an example – healthcare providers are unable to leverage local care capacity efficiently as they simply don’t have visibility over available services. This causes older people to spend more time in hospital, which can lead to an increased risk of infections and sometimes mental and physical deterioration, as well as bed-blocking.
The disconnection between both sectors prevents progress towards proactive care for everyone.
Technology, especially with regard to data, can bridge the gap between health and social care. Successful innovation will allow them to adopt a proactive and personalised approach that will best support the population. The entire health and social care ecosystem must unite to champion true digital transformation, where communities can care for each other, empowered by data.
Conclusion
This thought leadership article was secured using the following approved commentary.
“The latest news from the British Media Journal survey reveals the majority of NHS trusts in England still use paper records, despite 88% having electronic patient record (EPR) systems. This bizarre statistic provides yet more proof that the way our healthcare system currently operates is unsustainable; especially combined with the rising age of the population. If a system is struggling to embrace digitally-informed ways of working that would clearly benefit all involved, it is time to ask if the system itself needs more radical change.
Many believe it’s simply funding holding healthcare operations back. But antiquated ways of working, a lack of visibility and systemic interoperability between health and social care are also vast underlying concerns that are risking the health of our population; and further a reactive approach to healthcare.
Patients, policymakers and care providers alike agree that to best support our population, healthcare needs to be both personalised and proactive. Still relying on pen and paper simply won’t enable us to do that. The entire health and social care ecosystem must come together to champion true digital transformation, where communities can care for each other, empowered by data.”
