It's not often that members of opposing political parties agree with one another, but former Labour and Conservative health ministers are united on one point: technology is the future for healthcare in the UK.
Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health between 1999 and 2003, and Stephen Dorrell MP, Secretary of State for Health from 1995 to 1997, agree that smartphones, mobile applications and other new types of information technology are crucial to a better and more personalised NHS service in the future, Computing magazine reports.
At the UK e-Health Week event in London, Milburn said: "What we need to do is incentivise people to be healthy and kept out of hospital rather than incentivising them to come in."
Mobile devices and apps can enable this, he continued. A smartphone, for example, "empowers me to do some things about my own life", he said.
Dorrell echoed these views. "The use of modern technology, information technology, allows a change in the relationship between patients and healthcare. It should enable healthcare to be much more effective," he said.
Mobile technology is already being used by some NHS Trusts, such as South Devon NHS Trust, which has equipped nurses with iPads in order to improve efficiency, and Lancashire NHS, which has also rolled out its own mobile device scheme.
Justin Whatling, chair of the British Computer Society's health arm, has also spoken of the value of technology in healthcare. "The next administration must prioritise reducing inequalities through personalised care and enabling technology to radically improve the outcomes for patients and citizens through integrated systems and services," he said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Shannon Greenhalgh
Quelle/Source: Misco, 06.03.2015
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