A time for change is never more needed than now

Firstly, I hope you and your families are healthy and safe amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. We are in awe of the way the NHS’s frontline staff are responding in this challenging time continually putting others first, so a big thank you. We are ourselves supporting for free where we can with our data platforms and tech to help better capture, manage and report on the outbreak, so please reach out if needed.

It has now been nearly a month since we attended the Digital Health Rewired Exhibition and Conference (Rewired 2020) in London and we wanted to reflect on what was an excellent event. More than 150 speakers delivered very insightful presentations regarding the progress and opportunities in modern healthcare using technology. The debate, discussion and challenge among the attendees were needed and showed a real appetite for change never more needed than what has happened since. That’s why I want to share some key takeaways with you.

Healthcare professionals need instant access to data

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are struggling with having to access several systems to get all the relevant patient data. This is proving to be even more significant in the current COVID-19 situation as it is crucial for HCPs to obtain patient data quickly and to successfully manage the care process overall in and out of the hospital. There are current real challenges in the existing approach with a lack of interoperability, common standard approach across settings to terminology, data modelling and data management related to patients, COVID with holistic, contextual data. 

Patient care moving beyond hospital walls

If properly managed, home care decreases the burden for the healthcare system and has a positive impact on patients’ lives. Patients are already using several medical devices, wearables and smartphone apps, but these must be properly connected to hospital systems. In order to help and consult patients remotely in an efficient way, healthcare professionals need to have timely access to precise and trustworthy health data of patients. Healthcare IT will have an important role in enabling improving home care management and maintaining interactions with the Clinicians. Deploying new applications rapidly is key to changing models of working to help keep people safe.  

Creating an active sharing and learning community for free

HCP community would benefit greatly if they could create, share and implement clinical practise guidelines, decision support tools and best practice cases in a structured way. For this to be successful, it is crucial to establish IT solutions based on standards that enable the creation and sharing of these guidelines seamlessly. OpenEHR approach is a reliable basis for these solutions to be developed, assets shared, data models developed. We see this community be owned by the NHS, not by suppliers. Best practice should be free to create, free to share, free to use.

Stay safe and healthy and again a big thank you.