Imagine a world where doctors and nurses glance at their watch to see patient updates, where virtual reality headsets are used to consult on medical procedures, or where patients could interact with their doctor through their television or media console.
All of this, and a great deal more, is achievable with the technology we have today, but both the NHS and its technology suppliers are yet to embrace what’s possible and make these scenarios happen.
The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has called for an “NHS for the smartphone age”, but mobile and digital means and offers healthcare so much more; something technology consumers are very aware of.
Large touchscreen devices, smart watches, other wearables, smart TVs, virtual reality displays and even games consoles are just a few of the digital devices available to consumers. But mobile health (mHealth), both in the UK and many other parts of the world, still largely falls far short of embracing the potential range of devices.
Meanwhile, clinical staff qualifying today in their 20s and 30s have grown up with mobile technology. They have smartphones, consoles, tablets and wearables. They use FitBits, health apps and messaging platforms.
A lot of frustration can be found among those professionals who want to use this technology in their working environments to improve care.
But chat platforms like WhatsApp have been known to cause challenges to IT teams. Information governance rules do not allow the use of many consumer apps in the NHS, in an attempt to avoid the potential for sensitive patient data to move to servers beyond the UK, and the subsequent loss of an audit trail.
But, while trusts cannot permit the use of WhatsApp by staff, the convenience of these messaging platforms still presents the risk of the technology being used under the radar, with people finding ways round traditional IT management policies. NHS technology leads are searching for ways to overcome the challenge – of addressing the demands of professionals while also safeguarding patient data.
Chat apps could be used to book an appointment at the doctors’ surgery or the hospital
A demand has emerged from staff to be able communicate instantaneously and share real-time information with colleagues through secure chat. But do mobile chat apps have the potential to transform NHS interaction for patients too?
In customer-service settings across other industries, bots, which pull information from applications and services, allow questions to be answered through natural language in a similar manner to the voice interaction on iPhone and Android devices. The same chat style interfaces, with which people are increasingly comfortable, could make a major difference to how patients interact with the NHS.
Chat apps could be used to book an appointment at the doctor’s surgery or the hospital. A patient can simply ask for an appointment next week and, in turn, the app speaks to tell them: “I have an appointment next Wednesday.”
When even augmented reality technologies like Pokemon Go have been recognised for their potential health and wellbeing benefits, consumer expectations about technology and the NHS is growing bolder. There are some promising signs that healthcare is starting to think differently, and it is reassuring to see an increasing number of media reports on new mobile innovations.
A greater focus on using technology for patient monitoring has been seen in the last 12–18 months. More local authorities are looking at patient information apps to prevent hospital admissions. And new mobile innovation tenders suggest a recognition that investment in mobile solutions is now needed. But all this barely scratches the surface of what can be done.
NHS providers, and the wider care community, now have a huge opportunity to really push the boundaries of what mobile technology can deliver and take advantage of both emerging and widely used technologies. If they take this opportunity, they could dramatically enhance their offering to patients and to the staff responsible for their care.
You could create fully interactive NHS apps for Apple TV. Console devices such as the Microsoft Xbox One Kinect could be used to assess a person’s posture and fitness, and provide suggestions for improvement. Wearable devices such as smartwatches could contribute to the government’s preventative medicine agenda.
It isn’t easy. Healthcare organisations can become bogged down in the day to day, and need to focus their finite IT resource on delivering large clinical systems or a new electronic patient record. To make this brave, new mHealth vision a reality the NHS cannot carry the responsibility alone. Tech suppliers need to think about their users, and think beyond mobile.
How long will it be before a doctor or nurse can use an app on their watch to access patient information? How long before a patient can book their clinical appointments via their Xbox, or record their own vital signs through tablet applications? It’s clear we need to do this now.
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The doctor on your Xbox? The NHS needs more digital ambition
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