16 August 2021 | Sam Francis
Digital Healthcare is a rapidly evolving field, with new innovations and breakthroughs happening continuously. The need for digital healthcare was seen during the pandemic, when the traditional forms of healthcare became impossible as face to face interaction was curtailed. Therefore, there have been tremendous innovations in digital healthcare. Here are 5 of trends and the impact they have had.
In recent years, the investment in digital healthcare has skyrocketed. In 2016 the total value of all European health tech companies was $8 billion, that figure is now $21 billion. The UK / Scottish (?) Government has also noticed the need for digital healthcare, and they have shown this by pledging £32 million in funding for different digital health projects to bring change to the NHS by 2050. One of the projects receiving funding is InLightenUs, by Edinburgh University. This project aims to use an AI paired with an x-ray scanner to diagnose cancer earlier than ever before. Overall, the interest and demand for digital healthcare shows that it has the potential to grow into an even bigger industry.
Companies using people's data have been subject to scrutiny in the last couple of years after it was found many large social media companies were illegally harvesting data. However this data usage can be used to help learn about diseases and even predict if people have them. In the UK 4 million people signed up to the COVID symptom study, run by the King's college London. These people were asked to describe how they feel, and from this the AI managed to identify 6 ‘different types’ of the virus. It is clear that ethical use of patient data could help to improve healthcare and outcomes, as long as the companies processing data take their data protection responsibilities seriously.
Everyone who goes through the NHS has different needs, no 2 patients are the same, and this can make it difficult for doctors to cater to every patient as an individual. However with the use of digital healthcare this can be made far easier. NHS England is looking to roll out personalised care to 2.5 million people by 2023/24. Up in Scotland, we at Pogo Studios have been developing Tailored Talks which will streamline the recovery process and save doctors considerable time and effort in the delivery of high-quality personalised healthcare.
If you are interested to find out more about Tailored Talks and its benefits for personalised, digital healthcare, click here to contact us.