Hospitals won't exist in the future, at least as we know them. That was the striking prediction from Keith Errey of Isansys, an Oxford healthcare data business at last night's Digital Health Oxford event, held at the Oxford Martin School.
Working daily in a digital agency means we are for the most part, quite rightly, preoccupied with websites and digital communications. Our task, at its fundamental level is to help businesses describe themselves online. We build websites that meet strict standards and run campaigns to achieve specific goals. It's an important function, but it shouldn't be forgotten that digital isn't just a vehicle for communication.
The theme of August's Digital Health Oxford was 'wearables in healthcare'. A trend many of us are familiar with, be it through smart watches, fitness trackers and apps that report on our sleep patterns. Wearables are predicted by many to be 'the future'. Last night was about defining what that future might be, and whether wearables have a place in that future.
Bringing wearable tech to the clinic
Dr Aravind Ganesh explored how wearables should and potentially could become a valuable source of information for clinics. "Clinics are late adopters" said Dr Ganesh, "whilst we (the patients) are playing Pokemon Go, clinics are still playing with a Nintendo" he continued. The message was clear; the technology to improve clinics exists, but there is a bridge that is yet to be built between the technology and the clinics themselves.
Dr Ganesh highlighted some of the issues that wearable technology could solve in clinics. Blood glucose readings, blood pressure readings and heart rate readings change constantly throughout the day. At present, a clinic can only take a single reading at a single point of a patient's day, if that particular reading is deemed safe then neither the patient or clinic is aware of any potential health problem. Wearable tech can solve this; by wearing something that takes a reading continuously throughout the day, the clinic and the patient will benefit.
What needs to happen next? Dr Ganesh had three things to say. Firstly, the technology must be accurate, secondly the data provided must merge with the workflow of the clinic and not simply present raw data. Finally the data provided must be clinically meaningful; it should come combined with the patient's feedback on when they were experiencing symptoms.
How we wear tech
Integrate wearables into the things we wear everyday, that was the message from Alexa Chan, a fashion graduate with big ideas about the future of what we wear and how it can improve our lives. Miss Chan presented a passionate vision for the future, where our clothes become the vehicle for tech. "The design should be considered at the same time as the tech" said Miss Chan.
Snake oil
Keith Erray told stories of how wearables are already improving care and saving money but in order to continue to make an impact, the arrogance of silicon valley must be overcome. Mr Erray elaborated on his point, stating that teams in silicon valley, as talented as they are, work mainly for healthy and fit people. It's a desirable market to be in, but it is not representative of real patients; the elderly, the injured and the weak.
If tech companies get it right, they could help to solve some worrying problems; an estimated 12,000 deaths in NHS hospitals are avoidable, and one in ten will be harmed whilst under the care of a hospital. The costs are, as you might expect, incredibly high. Estimates suggest the cost of adverse events on the NHS hits £5bn. Mr Erray's conclusion was this - safe care equals lower costs. His answer to safe care? His company, Isansys is forming predictive algorithms for use in health care.
From Formula 1 to health
Did you know that there are somewhere between 140 and 500 sensors in a Formula 1 car? Did you know that even though McLaren only races two cars in each race, they track data for the entire grid? The result of all of this data is 160,000 simulations helping the McLaren team to make decisions mid-race. It's a staggering amount of data and Mark Brincat of McLaren Applied Technologies explained how they are using the insight gained from McLaren's racing pedigree and applying it to other markets, most notably health.
Mr Brincat focussed on ensuring there is a business case in place when developing and launching health tech and perhaps his most pertinent message was that developers and engineers need to work to a common schema. By leaning on other industries who have already done this, Mr Brincat believes that health can benefit from pooling data in a common schema. As he put it, "an eco-system that isn't owned by anybody". Open-source digital health, if you like.
The takeaway
The most stark messages were delivered in the Q&A. Hospitals will eventually be gone. Many patients are admitted to hospital simply to be watched and monitored. If the promises of wearables become truths then many of these admissions can be avoided, the financial implications of this can be huge; an appealing concept amid rising speculation over the future of our NHS.
It was fascinating stuff from a great event, a sage reminder that for all of its distracting allure, digital has a serious and profoundly human application and it shows itself best when caring for our health.
Credit: Heart by pepf from the Noun Project
