UK Edition
Healthcare is all about people – people who deliver care, people who receive care and people who invest in care. While this is a fact, there is another emerging certainty – that technology is required alongside these “people” for sustainable and quality patient access and healthcare delivery.
So how would a combination of world-class technology and people, knowledge and data all work together to build a model system for healthcare in the United Kingdom?
Earlier this month, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, addressed the nation on the industrial strategy, highlighting how artificial intelligence can help in the fight against cancer, heart disease, diabetes and dementia.
This announcement reinforced what I already believed; that healthcare in Britain, with its focus on digitisation, is well positioned to manage the future needs of patients in this country. AI is all about bringing together the combined knowledge and expertise of our people with the potential offered by technology.
With our wealth of expertise in the NHS and our thirst for adoption of new technologies, the UK really is ahead of the game in this arena.
It is estimated that one in 21 people are currently affected by cancer in the UK, a figure that is expected to continue to rise. This amounts to over 2.5m people currently receiving cancer care in the country. People living with cancer deserve the best possible diagnostics and treatment, through the combined expertise of our healthcare professionals and the advancements in technology.
As the NHS celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, digital transformation is clearly one of its key focus areas in supporting quality and access across the country.
The UK has been pioneering healthcare trends and technology, and attracting research investment from organisations across the world over the past several decades, with the NHS at the centre.
As such, technology and digitisation are familiar terms when we discuss healthcare in the UK. The discussion around AI is a strategic move to the next wave of development to significantly enhance patient access, quality and timeliness of care. AI coupled with other innovative technology, like digital pathology, can help bring intelligent solutions to healthcare.
Imagine a world where clinical decisions can be made based on a database of millions of patients and how they have responded to a variety of treatments. This would mean we were able to tailor treatment to the individual by comparing their DNA make-up with thousands of others from all over the world.
It is important to establish digital platforms to store and analyse such large amounts of data, to increase levels of certainty around disease diagnosis and selection of treatment pathways. The fact that this is a journey we have already embarked upon is encouraging.
At this moment in British history, we are facing an enormous opportunity of scientific inquiry into a better future. There is the potential to become a new global powerhouse and build a cradle of scientific achievement, and it is exciting that the Government has committed to invest 2.4pc of GDP into research and development (which equates to roughly £80bn) by 2027.
As the Prime Minister mentioned in her address, big data is going to be the key to research and development, and making available innovations for the future.
This will require a change in culture around the use of data in the NHS and an infrastructure of its own.
Other imperatives, according to the Prime Minister’s speech, are partnerships between government, industry and academic institutions.
There is a need to build not just the systems and infrastructure for patient care, but the skill and expertise in the industry, to be equipped for the use of solutions like AI.
I believe that with the Prime Minister’s address, the foundations have been laid for a technology-enabled healthcare system in the UK.
The next steps would be to build on meaningful dialogues and partnerships to ensure that these innovations have the accompanying mandates and funding to enable implementation and broad diffusion in the market, so there is equitable access for all patients in the UK.
Geoff Twist is the managing director of Roche Diagnostics UK & Ireland
It’s time to kick-start a new digital era in healthcare