dialogue
about healthcare needs
and outcomes, that in turn stimulates development. “It is a model that encourages collaborative working,” he continues. “So I think the critical thing to do now in Ireland is to encourage
this dialogue and be honest and come out and state that we have many problems – healthcare is such a complex area. “If you look at a problem you have in the area of
community care, for example, you have to engage with the GPs in the area, with the acute hospitals, social workers, community care workers and to put the patient at the heart of any solution, which is what we want to do, you have to then organise a lot of different services. So while people expect healthcare services to be a simple as booking a flight or a hotel online, it’s not quite that easy! “So I see a good way forward would be to get all
these stakeholders involved in dialogue, defining what they see as the problem and engaging with them to assure them that they can be involved in being the architects of any solutions. And this brings a dynamic to the development that has been missing until now.” With this approach, it would appear that Ireland is
in a very good position in terms of starting this process of development. The technology is there, it works and there are many examples of successful implementation from around the world. Work is needed on the deployment of individual healthcare systems
and the improvements in end-to-end
processes and redesigns, but Conlon believes this will be straightforward. Where Conlon sees that a major effort and a big
change in thinking are needed is in the engagement of all stakeholders. “What we need is the engagement of the clinicians, the nurses, the GPs and the patients, all working together,” he emphasises. “It is collaborative work that is needed, developing shared care systems, so it’s not a one-to-one relationship, it’s also a longitudinal relationship that we are trying to devise as well.” Conlon explains this relationship: “Patients don’t
just go for a two-week stay in a hospital like they do on holiday. There is a long process of diagnosis before they go into hospital and a long process of treatment and aftercare when they come out. And in the case of chronic disease, there is often a lifetime of care and support needed. It is building up these long-term linkages that is the challenge we are facing. “When we talk about the ecosystem approach,” he
continues, “then industry is obviously a vital part of this ecosystem. No one vendor or one supplier is going to solve all the problems. I think that many of the innovations that are taking place, many of the mobile solutions and the advances in primary care, are often driven by small innovators and small companies but these people don’t have the marketing resources available to them that the larger players have so that is why we want an ecosystem that involves all
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com “We want to demonstrate that the enablers are all
in place and that we open for the business of engagement for eHealth and open for reform,” concludes Conlon. “We may not have a lot of money for all this, but we
want to put the building blocks in place and we will be investing across a broad range of solutions. It’s all about engaging with stakeholders. It’s not just a question of throwing money at the problem. We tried that before and it didn’t work and the moment for that has now passed. “We have a unique opportunity to get it right now
because we now have significant evidence of what works and what doesn’t work so in so many ways we are doing this at the right time.”
★ 23
industry stakeholders
and the health workers,
patients, academia and public sector, all working together. It’s a major piece of work, but we think it can work. “There is a lot of work to be done in understanding
how community care and social work etc interact with patients and as there is no one solution, the vendors have to work with each other and address the interoperability challenge that inevitably follows,” he continues. “We have to get a common language developed for
eHealth but I think now is the time to do this and that people understand that it’s not just going to happen without a lot of hard graft. It’s not just a question or
rolling out mobile apps or eHealth
systems, it’s going to take a lot of discussion and the building of the right architecture. “The time for pilots is gone... we know this all
works and we now need to get people using the systems. The process is the key tool for all this.” If one thing is clear after Conlon’s assessment of
the Irish eHealth opportunities, it is that the country is open for business in terms of the deployment of eHealth and healthcare ICT and it is clear that the government is looking for a new engagement and is serious about moving forward.
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