TECHNOLOGY
Digital transformation: the key investment areas
From a new generation in smart diagnostics, to e-Triage systems and telemedicine, digitalisation is becoming a reality. Supported by advances in artificial intelligence, we are seeing a revolution in healthcare. But what are the key areas for investment for digitalisation? Chris Wilkinson identifies the top priorities.
By 2030, it is anticipated that there will be over 21,000 centenarians in the UK, with 1 in 5 people aged 65 and over.1
As life
expectancy rises, time spent in poor health with multiple chronic health conditions also increases. At the same time, the gap between the number of staff needed and that available is projected to reach almost 250,000 by 2030,2
leaving the existing
workforce significantly overstretched.3 Digital transformation is already playing a key role in bridging this widening gap between supply and demand – but with the healthcare landscape evolving so rapidly, where should healthcare providers invest first to get the most rapid and effective outcomes? With budget cuts being rife and the possibilities of digitalisation being endless, our latest research draws on the views of healthcare experts from around the world to identify three key investment areas which are seen to bring the greatest and quickest value to healthcare systems in the next five years. The results revealed the top enabling technologies to be (a) new generation (digitalised and/or mobile) diagnostics, (b) remote access and communications platforms (telemedicine) and (c) smart, digitalised hospitals.
New generation diagnostics In the UK, NHS staff numbers are failing to keep pace with healthcare demand. The number of GPs fell by 1.6% in 2018, moving further away from the Government’s pledge to find 5,000 extra GPs.4
Amid
a shortage of radiologists, digitalisation is improving both the management of diagnostic capabilities, as well as the performance of diagnostic equipment itself. Recognising the potential of digitalisation, in 2019 the Government pledged to invest £250 million in artificial intelligence (AI) research, also announcing the creation of NHSX, a new unit bringing together experts in the technological, digital and data
OCTOBER 2020
industry.5
As part of this AI revolution, the NHS has rolled out a new AI-driven health- data programme which aims to improve the early detection and prevention of diseases such as cancer and dementia.6
Using big data analytics of historical scan data, algorithms are built to automatically detect anomalous tissue and highlight these results to the radiographer – allowing faster and more accurate diagnoses and alleviating some of the pressure on clinicians. Such automation naturally captures and deploys best practice standards of diagnostic interpretation that create consistency and reduce unwarranted variations. More consistent diagnostic standards are then linked to precision therapies based on the patient’s unique phenotypic and genetic characteristics. Further evidence of the Government’s investment in AI came in November 2018, with the announcement of a long-term plan incorporating the opening of five new medical centres for digital pathology and imaging.7
Based in Leeds, Oxford, Coventry, Glasgow and London, in universities
and NHS facilities, the clinics will be equipped with digitalised medical imaging.8 Introducing AI into the healthcare system will allow speeding up diagnosis, providing the patients with better services, while easing the burden on NHS.
In recent years, a hospital in Leeds celebrated a milestone in the digitalisation of cancer diagnostics. Drawing upon digitally scanned slides, UK pathologists can now easily identify whether the slide shows evidence of cancer.9
By 2018, the hospital
had digitally scanned 200,000 slides, enabling faster and more accurate diagnoses and bypassing challenges relating to the transportation and storage of slides.10 These are just a few examples among many of how AI and big data are improving healthcare outcomes. Mobile diagnostics can also digitally link devices between different healthcare institutions, thereby maximising their usage rate while also improving access to diagnostics for more remote communities. The cost of investing in new generation diagnostics, however, is significant: £1.17 billion in the UK over the next five years.11
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