How connectivity will change health and social care ...
A NUMBER of trends are spurring the NHS to create ‘connected care’ based on internet-linked devices that will contribute to the transformation of primary and secondary care across Britain.
The race to meet the three-year timetable for the move to paperless, integrated digital health and care records and a new NHS ‘Innovation and Technology Tariff’ is driving the introduction of smart devices to collect and share data instantly, from robot-assisted surgical instruments to AI-driven ‘virtual GPs’. Globally, investment in a healthcare ‘Internet of Things’ is projected to reach $117 billion by 2020. Rising patient demand for personalised healthcare is incentivising investment in technologies such as wearable health tech to enable remote monitoring of patients from any location, and connected pacemakers that send information about a patient’s heartbeat to a doctor. Connected health is now becoming part of the NHS healthcare landscape, with connected medical devices routinely being used for patient surgery, care and monitoring. Increasingly, data analytics will be used to harvest the data from this medical ‘Internet of Things’ network and generate personalised, predictive healthcare treatments. The ultimate vision is to create a ‘smart’ reactive and personalised
see inside an operating theatre and view procedures or equipment from different angles and receive remote training through a tablet. Remote access technology could even be used to ‘remote in’ to future portable X-ray machines, enabling scans to be analysed from hundreds of miles away.
healthcare system, which proactively reduces demand by using technology to aid prevention and efficiently target resources. At the heart of this revolution is the need for a constant, real-time exchange of information between an array of devices.
For this to be achieved, it is imperative that these devices stay functioning correctly on a 24-hour basis. Connected healthcare will not only enable healthcare organisations to adapt services in response to live data feeds but will also enable healthcare bodies to remotely intervene if any medical equipment becomes faulty, avoiding costly, lengthy call-outs and downtime. NHS Trusts and US Medical Boards are now using screen sharing software to allow specialists to ‘remote in’ to everything from X-rays and MRI scanners to medical instrumentation from any location to make urgent upgrades or diagnose and fix faults. Fujifilm is deploying the technology to help technicians remotely monitor and manage vital medical imaging equipment across far-flung hospitals, veterinary practices, small clinics and even cruise liners, without needing to send out engineers, creating a high-speed ‘IT help desk’ for medical equipment. The Medical Board of California has even created an app to allow a small IT team to remotely maintain, manage and upgrade healthcare devices
NEWS
Adam Byrne, chief operating officer at RealVNC, discusses the trends driving a ‘connected care’ revolution where much monitoring and care will happen beyond the hospital walls
As patients and carers become mutually dependent on a growing Internet of Things ecosystem of health monitors, scanners and medical instrumentation, real-time interchange of information will become essential. Adam Byrne
across 15 locations 500 miles apart. One pioneering US medical centre even uses connected technology to resolve issues ranging from a faulty system at a patient’s bedside to a medical research lab, from a faraway helpdesk. This is particularly imperative as organisations such as the NHS begin to build healthcare decisions on the data from connected medical devices, which means the software inside the devices must be trustworthy and free of bugs or vulnerabilities. Yet the connected revolution also opens up other possibilities, such as speeding up healthcare training and diagnosis. Remote connectivity could in future be used to allow trainee surgeons to
We could see the NHS adapt remote access technology to facilitate the live sharing of everything from images to audio between a multitude of devices. This will create a care system that operates like ‘smart cities’, linking live data together from different sources to predict and prevent health problems before they arise, easing pressure on services through proactive prevention and targeted intervention. Information from wearable technologies, apps, hubs and mobile scanners could be remotely transmitted, enabling more care to take place outside hospitals in care homes and other settings, reducing pressure on hospital places. The growth of a medical ‘internet of Things’ will ultimately create a smart health and social care ecosystem that adapts and responds to real-time information.
Podiatry team help homeless at Christmas A TEAM of podiatrists from Queen Margaret University gave up their time on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to look after the foot health of homeless people in Edinburgh. When the rest of Scotland was celebrating Christmas with family at home, podiatry lecturer and lead podiatry volunteer for the charity ‘Crisis’, Evelyn Weir, along with 10 Queen Margaret University podiatry students, will run a specialist foot clinic for people who live on the streets of the capital. The Queen Margaret University podiatrists were volunteering with the ‘Crisis at Christmas’ project. The event was run by the charity Crisis which helps single homeless people. The ‘Crisis at Christmas’ project provides companionship and support to tackle loneliness and isolation, and
helps people take their first steps out of homelessness.
offered to support the Crisis event.
The project ran for the first time in Edinburgh in 2013 on Christmas Day.
She added: “Many people who are homeless tend to walk for miles each day in all kinds of weather.
It was such a great success, with incredible support from a wide range of volunteers, that the event has continued to expand each year.
“However, they often don’t have access to foot health care or good quality footwear, and probably don’t have a change of shoes.
As well as offering some much needed foot care over the winter period, the Christmas Day and Boxing Day events offered homeless people services such as hairdressing and massage, as well as providing breakfast, a hot Christmas meal, and supper on each day.
“All of these issues combined with the fact that they may stand around on hard pavements in the cold and damp, and have nowhere to store dry shoes and socks, can lead to significant foot problems.”
Evelyn Weir, programme leader for the BSc (Hons) Podiatry programme at Queen Margaret University, has spent the last 26 years volunteering with homeless charities and was delighted that a team of enthusiastic university podiatry students again
Evelyn added: “I am thrilled that students volunteered again to support this important project on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and I’m also overwhelmed by the generosity of our sponsors – Algeos, C&P Medical and support from senior management at Queen Margaret University. “We were well equipped with essential medical supplies and instruments and can also supply people with new winter socks, donated by QMU staff.
Evelyn, and her student team from the BSc (Hons) Podiatry course at QMU, provided a podiatry service for over 100 homeless people on both days.
“The project also presented an excellent opportunity for our students to develop their clinical and interpersonal skills whilst making a positive contribution to the community.
Homeless people benefited from relaxing foot baths, general foot care treatments and advice, and the supply of new warm socks.
“Using your specialist skills to benefit others seems to make Christmas more meaningful.”
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES I FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018
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