David Kidney’s blog: October 2024
October 2024
In the Cluster’s recent online Topical Tuesday discussion, we all witnessed a presentation by George Kowalski of MiiCare Ltd about his company’s innovative system for Remote Patient Monitoring (“RPM”).
The curious thing that struck me about this presentation is that maybe a year ago, I would have thought that this technology is encouraging but not mainstream. But now, one year on, perceptions of RPM have very much shifted. The technology is now recognised as a ready-to-implement healthcare solution and it is one that will feature in our HealthTech Day during Birmingham Tech Week 2024 21st October).
RPM is particularly well suited to the management of chronic diseases, such as heart conditions, respiratory illnesses, cancer, and diabetes. Clinicians are seeing the proven value of RPM and clinical studies are accumulating that demonstrate the potential for significant care cost reductions while maintaining quality of care.
Chronic diseases like heart conditions, diabetes, and respiratory illnesses present a knotty problem for healthcare systems around the world. In developed nations in particular, an ageing population and rising life expectancy constantly add to the volume of healthcare activity for patients and healthcare systems alike. In 2019, the UK spent over £50 billion treating chronic conditions. The cost of chronic disease can only grow in years to come.
So why wouldn’t health and social care systems in the UK pay more attention to the RPM solutions?
These conditions require continuous management, which traditionally involves frequent hospital visits, regular check-ups, and constant monitoring by healthcare professionals. This is time-consuming for the patients and costly for all concerned – from patients’ travel costs to and from hospital to clinicians and carers – not to mention the strain on the quality of the services delivered.
At that recent Topical Tuesday discussion, congestive heart failure was a case in point. By prioritising in-person consultations to the situations where they are most needed, and relying on RPM at other times, cost savings are achieved and the frequency of sudden hospital admissions is reduced. Any signs of the patient’s condition worsening can be identified early, and clinicians can adjust the medication or call the patient in for a visit before there is an acute need for hospital care.
And isn’t RPM a vast step forward in terms of reassurance for patients and improving their quality of life and mental health and wellbeing? Patients with chronic diseases often feel a sense of security knowing that their health is being monitored continuously by experts familiar with their medical history.
As you might expect, today’s UK health and social care systems are complex, budgets are tight, care staff are hard-pressed even to make time to study different ways of working, and these factors all inhibit the space for innovation.
Of course, there certainly are challenges of implementation for new technologies like RPM. Risk-averse management, lack of time for training care staff, and ensuring that patients understand and can use technology at home are all issues that must be addressed.
Following the publication of Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS, and the Government’s response, it is clear that technology is going to play an increasingly big role in the delivery of health and social care from now on. There is also a new and welcome centre staging of a public health – preventive – approach to care.
Greater use of technologies like RPM will contribute hugely to a shift from treatment to prevention.