As the NHS turns 70, Caitlin Sweeney looks at the organisation's future.
On 5 July, the organisation thought of by many as our great national treasure will celebrate its 70th birthday. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Health Minister Aneurin Bevan put the hugely ambitious aim of providing universal healthcare for all, free at the point of use, into action – and so the National Health Service was born.
Since then, the size and scope of the organisation has grown hugely. Current health spending stands at around 8% of GDP, up from 3.8% at its inception, and the NHS is currently the world’s fifth largest employer, providing 1.7 million jobs across the UK. Our modern day health service offers a huge range of treatments and services that would have been beyond comprehension at its establishment in 1948.
As its big birthday approaches, there has been well-publicised debate between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Treasury around the “size” of the financial gift the NHS will receive to mark the occasion, and how this money will be raised.
However, running alongside this is an ongoing discussion about the role that technology and innovation can play in the transformation of future healthcare provision, and what changes the NHS will see over the next seventy years.
While the suggestion that we could see robot doctors, nurses or carers has been laughed off as a dystopian notion by many, stakeholders from across the political spectrum have spoken with enthusiasm about the huge opportunities that medical innovation presents. Indeed, the digital and technical advances we have seen in many other aspects of our lives have the potential to enact huge change in healthcare, and the claim that we are in the midst of a powerful wave of transformation is no exaggeration.
From ambitious big tech ideas - harnessing Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things - to less eye-catching but nonetheless important improvements to data sharing and encouraging app usage amongst patients, the potential for technology to be applied in healthcare delivery is endless.
Encouraging the responsible sharing of data between different sections of the healthcare system would allow medical professionals to monitor cross-societal developments. Growth in the use of wearable technology, such as fitness bands which track heart rate and exercise, creates an opportunity for users to self-monitor and share this information with doctors and nurses. On a more sophisticated level, the rollout of flash glucose monitoring for those with diabetes demonstrates how innovative technology can be harnessed to improve the delivery of care and management of long-term health conditions.
These are just a handful of examples, but clinicians are hopeful that further innovations and the spread of medical technology will solve some existing problems while allowing them to focus on the delivery of clinical care. All of this suggests that while the widespread use of technology and innovation in healthcare is at an embryonic stage, the future is bright.
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