Charles Lowe
CEO Digital Health * Care Alliance
Digital health is unusual because it delivers care very differently.
As someone with a non-clinical background attracted to how technology can help people live longer, happier lives, I see current treatments as being one, or a combination of, what you give (medicines), what you do (non-pharmacological interventions, like surgery, irradiation, physiotherapy, etc.) and how you care for someone.
That third type, usually involving technology, is different, because it doesn’t primarily work directly: hence this article’s title. Digital health works indirectly, by helping health professionals deliver better care to more people, more efficiently. It does this in the main (there are always exceptions) by enabling ways of delivering care that weren’t previously possible.
Digital health, unlike other interventions,
needs to be delivered as a change programme, not a technology purchase
Supporting the NHS 10 Year Plan
For example, if a patient measures their blood pressure at home, it can be transmitted directly to their doctor, saving significant medical resources and patient transport and time.
Because it’s now so easy, more frequent readings can be taken, so earlier signs of trouble can be spotted and proactive steps taken. Digital health can also be used to educate people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Remote treatment, and even remote diagnosis, is becoming common. This supports the NHS’s 10 Year Plan by moving treatment into the community and avoiding the need for treatment by encouraging prevention.
Pilots and changing delivery don’t mix
Changing care delivery also requires change management. This means that the common practice of running “pilots” to test a new procedure or medicine is more difficult because it’s difficult for part of an organisation to deliver a new way of providing care when the rest still use long-established practices.
However, many don’t want to give up old practices, so there’s a huge tendency for people in the pilot to keep their heads down, confident that when it closes, they can return to their old ways.
Digital health, unlike other interventions, needs to be delivered as a change programme, not a technology purchase. It also requires a different way of proving benefits because, when it involves a whole system, every part — the technology, people using it and how they’re using it — is essential to benefit generation.
