Posted on: 5/02/2014
Everybody in the healthcare industry knows that it faces a set of challenges - an ageing population, more lifestyle-related ill health, and growing constraints on budgets. In a nutshell, there is an increasing demand for services but fewer resources to deliver them.
Linked to this a the spiralling demand for community and council services, such as home-based care of the elderly and vulnerable, and primary care provision for sufferers of long term conditions, dietary and mental health concerns.
Against this background, we might expect new services to emerge, based on modern, digital technologies. And it is true that most of us have heard about apps that reward people for performing beneficial behaviours, web portals that enable patients to book appointments or order prescriptions, and devices that track and monitor patients remotely.
However, while technological innovation is abundant, digital healthcare is not growing as rapidly as anticipated. In any economy, it is highly unusual for a growing need to remain unmet, particularly when there are potential solutions.
It is clear, therefore, that dysfunction exists in the process that takes a concept and turns it into a useful and / or profitable product or service for citizens and healthcare professionals alike.
But who is responsible for this dysfunction? Governments? Policy makers? Service providers? Investors? Industry? Consumers?
With so many forces at work, it seems to be both everybody’s fault and nobody’s fault at the same time.
For the rest of the article visit: https://www.ehi.co.uk/resources/industry-view/128/