Whether someone is a nurse, a social worker, or a knowledge worker, being part of a public sector organisation can be uniquely rewarding. This is due to the significant value they deliver to people across the UK and their deep connection with local communities.  

Yet it’s also uniquely tough.

Resources are precious everywhere, but especially within the NHS and local government. The independent think-tank Institute for Government reports that local authority spending in England fell by 17.5% between 2009 and 2020, largely because of reductions in central government grants. The government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities also published a local government funding reform policy paper in March 2024, concluding that local authorities have seen significant reductions in their spending power coincide with increasing demand for their services and inflationary pressures exceeding those in the wider economy.  

Building on this, a new report called Harnessing the Power of AI for the Public Sector, featuring findings and analysis from Goldsmiths, University of London, reveals the scale of the administrative burden on public sector workers, and how it compounds the effects of existing resource constraints. 

The admin burden takes a toll 

Researchers found that simply managing information and data is taking each public sector worker more than eight hours every week, and that this is having a major impact on staff performance and morale. A shocking 45% of public sector respondents say they are “drowning in unnecessary administrative tasks” and 45% also say this high admin workload is negatively affecting their mental health and wellbeing. More than half (55%) say the sheer amount of admin work is having a negative impact on their ability to “get on with the day job”, and 54% feel the admin load is reducing their job satisfaction and motivation.

Half of respondents also say high admin workloads are compromising the quality of service they provide (48%) and limiting the time they can spend with the public or patients (49%).   

How AI can help

The good news is that Goldsmiths’ analysis¹ indicates AI could save each public sector worker more than four hours a week on administrative tasks. With an estimated 5.93 million public sector employees in the UK (as of December 2023), this equates to an overall saving of 23 million hours every week. That’s a lot of time that could be clawed back, enabling public sector employees to focus on what matters most, while also enhancing service delivery for citizens.  

These latest findings follow research on AI’s potential from Public First, commissioned by Microsoft, showing that, if AI is rolled out effectively across public services, it could save the UK’s public sector over £17 billion by 2035. That sum could fund the salaries for all vacancies currently in the NHS or to re-invest in driving better public health outcomes, a key contributor to productivity.² 

For an example of AI in action, we can look to Barnsley Council in South Yorkshire, which is using Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to reduce admin load, summarise documents, automatically record meetings, and produce notes and actions. This frees up Barnsley’s office workers and social workers to be more present in meetings or focused on the family they are there to support. Thanks to the power of generative AI and its seamless integration into the productivity apps staff use every day, from Microsoft Word and Teams to Excel and Outlook, Copilot is already achieving more than a 50% adoption rate and saving workers a great deal of time. 

As Wendy Popplewell, Executive Director Core Services at Barnsley Council, explains:  

“Our employees spend a lot of time reading emails, reports, spreadsheets and compiling various documents for things like funding bids. That first draft where you spend time getting started and think: ‘What do I need to write here?’ Copilot just creates that for you, which is a total game changer.  

We also have people within social care who spend a huge amount of time writing up case notes, meeting minutes and actions – taking them away from face-to-face interaction with our residents. If Copilot saves them a few hours every week, the impact on community and employee wellbeing is massive. People don’t become a social worker to do admin, they want to be spending time with families to help solve their problems.  

Of course, we want people to look at the job they do and figure out where there are potential efficiencies, but we’ve got to give them the space to think in the first place.  

This is what this Copilot is creating – time to think.”

Augmenting human expertise 

As well as easing the general admin burden, narrower AI use cases show how this technology can boost human performance in extremely high-skill areas, such as breast cancer screening, a disease that remains hard to detect. Oncologists can look at around 5,000 breast scans per year on average, and view 100 in a single session, and an element of fatigue and potential distractions in the workplace are part of any human review process.  

NHS Grampian, which provides social and healthcare services to more than half a million people in the north-east of Scotland, carried out the first official prospective evaluation of Kheiron Medical Technologies’ “Mia” AI tool. Mia was piloted alongside NHS clinicians and analysed the mammograms of over 10,889 women. 

While most of these patients were cancer-free, Mia successfully flagged all of those with symptoms, as well as an extra 11 the doctors did not initially identify because the tumours were so small. This means Mia helped doctors find an additional 12% more cancers compared to routine practice.  

If deployed across the entire NHS, a 12% uplift in the detection of breast cancer could lead to better outcomes for thousands of women across the UK. The AI-augmented workflow also showed a decrease in women recalled unnecessarily for further assessment and modelled a significant reduction in workload. Learn more about how AI can reduce workload by up to 30%.

While it’s still early days in the public sector’s learning and experimentation with AI, especially generative AI, the promise and progress so far are hugely encouraging. Public and private collaboration, especially around responsible deployment, and a rigorous approach to measuring the ROI and social impact of projects will be crucially important for sustainable success.  

Find out more

Harnessing the Power of AI for the Public Sector presents comprehensive research with seven key recommendations for UK government

¹ Research commissioned by Microsoft in partnership with Dr Chris Brauer, Goldsmiths, University of London, in May 2024.

² Unlocking the UK’s AI Potential: Harnessing AI for Economic Growth, Microsoft, 2024.

About the author

Hugh Milward leads Corporate, External and Legal for Microsoft in the UK, with a seat on the UK leadership team. His focus includes work to help organisations overcome legal and regulatory hurdles to their technology adoption and transformation, managing some of the complex geo-political issues relating to tech, and working to ensure no one is left behind from the onward march of technology. Hugh’s background is in politics, corporate affairs and reputation management, working for some of the world’s most high-profile brands including Starbucks and McDonald’s. He is passionate about the interrelationship of society and technology. Hugh is a Board Director of the New West End Company, chairing its Public Affairs committee, and a member of the Board of Directors of British-American Business. Hugh sits on the SE Council of the CBI and on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Coding.

The post Tackling the public sector puzzle with AI   appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

The partnership, which will see us supply a variety of digital solutions to NHS organisations all over the country, is the latest step in a trusted relationship that has already spanned several decades. It will also be key to accelerating the ongoing digital transformation of the health service, one of the world’s greatest and most-loved public institutions.

Personally speaking, it is something of which I am extremely proud. Microsoft’s work with the NHS is genuinely helping to improve people’s lives. Since the start of the pandemic, for example, the roll out of Microsoft Teams across the organisation saved NHS employees around 17 million hours of productive time, allowing them to concentrate on dealing with the extraordinary levels of demand for healthcare instead.

Today’s partnership announcement could not be more timely. As we celebrate the NHS’s 75^th anniversary, it faces some of the greatest challenges in its history: record waiting lists; soaring inflation; an aging population; and chronic staff shortages. Microsoft’s digital technologies can – and must – contribute to easing these pressures by increasing productivity, supporting collaboration and mitigating security threats.

A lighter load

In short, we must help equip the NHS to thrive in a digital-first world, enabling it to deliver high quality services to patients more quickly, efficiently and equitably.

Using the Microsoft cloud to automate processes is a great place to start as the more we can do to lighten healthcare professionals’ administrative load and alleviate the pressures on their time, the more they can focus on doing what they do best: caring for patients.

As well as freeing up staff from repetitive tasks and unnecessary meetings, automation can also help streamline the process of onboarding for new clinicians, while cloud technologies reduce the need for capital investment in on-premises infrastructure, generating further savings for the NHS that can be redirected to patient care.

Collaboration empowered

The impact on patients’ experiences should be equally transformative. Whether it’s at their GP surgery, on the wards or in a specialist hospital, people want and expect their interactions with the NHS to be joined-up.

Microsoft’s digital technologies can help make that happen, giving staff from across different NHS departments and geographical locations the power to connect and collaborate on the delivery of truly integrated care services.

Imagine nurses overseeing bed and capacity management, for example. By using Teams, they can build a 360-degree view of patient requirements, share operational documents instantly and communicate any changes and updates with each other at speed.

A securer future

Microsoft technologies can also help solve another of the health service’s most pressing concerns: cybersecurity. The volume of data and personal information held by the NHS is greater than ever and the positive side of this is that it enables better, more connected treatment for patients.

However, it is also intensifies the security risk, especially with criminals becoming ever more sophisticated and frequent in their attacks. The financial, operational and societal costs of an NHS cyber breach could undoubtedly be significant and damaging.

In 2021, Microsoft committed to investing $20 billion in security over the next five years to continue protecting our customers around the world. Today’s agreement will enable Microsoft to continue to work with NHS England and Local NHS Organisations, developing the required access to a comprehensive suite of security solutions to protect their people, data and assets. These include threat protection, data governance and compliance solutions that will continue to bolster the health service’s cyber resilience going forward.

Proud history, ambitious future

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. And nowhere is this more important than in the world of healthcare. One of our company’s most important achievements was the assistance we gave to the NHS during the pandemic, ensuring GP practices, NHS organisations and national bodies could keep their systems running and their people working together at a time of unprecedented national need.

We have also worked closely with NHS IT staff to accelerate the digital transformation of its systems faster than was ever believed possible and continue to support the much-needed shift towards the remote delivery of key elements of the patient journey. Read more about the different elements of our longstanding NHS partnership.

Yet while we are proud of those achievements so far, what really matters is what’s next. The health service once again finds itself facing widespread transformation and reform alongside the ever-present challenge of improving outcomes while limiting costs. Now more than ever, we must look to technology as a way to maximise the time NHS staff have for care and to, ultimately, deliver better experiences for patients. On the path to a digital future, Microsoft is committed to helping the NHS every step of the way.

Find out more

Maximising time to care: accelerating NHS digital achievements, at scale

NHS makes data more discoverable using Azure Cognitive Search to save clinicians’ time

vCreate & Microsoft Azure connects patients with their families and clinical teams

About the author

Jacob leads Microsoft’s UK local government, healthcare and life sciences business.

A former adviser to two UK Prime Ministers, Jacob has worked in healthcare locally, nationally and internationally, in the NHS and overseas.

Jacob was the Harkness Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London’s Public Policy Institute.

The post Maximising the time for care in the NHS appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

What does levelling up actually mean? In the health and care context, the term means better services and better care for all. It ensures all communities can access the very best services. Also, it makes sure no individuals, or individual segments of the population are left behind.

The challenges

The last couple of years has not made levelling up easy. Health and care providers have performed against the odds during a time of unprecedented demand. However, there is now an extra burden to an overstretched and under resourced workforce. With over 6 million people waiting for treatment, the NHS now faces its highest backlog on record. Halfway through last year, more than 300,000 people were estimated to have missed urgent cancer screenings in England alone.

Meanwhile, the full impact of COVID-19 is still unfolding. For example, according to research commissioned by NHS England, COVID-19 could trigger increased demand for mental health services, rising by 40 percent for adults and 60 percent for children and adolescents.

In recognition of the extra challenges caused by COVID-19, the NHS is spending £30 billion across England to clear the backlog of treatment. At the same time, the health service is working on the wider task at hand. This includes addressing systemic challenges and reform. As the NHS Confederation put it:

“The lesson from the 2000s is that only when far-reaching reforms were put in place – alongside the right level of resources – did services improve and waiting times fall.”

Rather than just plugging the gaps, the focus is now very much on improving long-term efficiency and effectiveness. This is exemplified by the goal to deliver 30 percent more elective activity by 2024-25.

There’s clearly a lot of work ahead, for both the NHS and wider social care. So how can ICS leaders, clinicians and provider organisations meet their ambitious targets and improve outcomes across the board. And specifically, how can they consistently level up the communities they serve?

Better data, better outcomes

Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) hold the promise of hyper-integrated health and care services. Underpinning this is partnerships, process innovations and data-driven decision making.

Collaboration is key. At Microsoft, we’re helping ICS organisations transition from the old, fragmented model towards truly joined-up care. By pooling data across health and care providers—and leveraging the power of predictive insights—ICSs can make more informed planning decisions that maximise the impact of their collective resources.

We help ICSs to invest where it matters most: empowering their workforce, improving outcomes and productivity. And all while reducing health and care inequalities.

Integrated data, integrated care

Enhanced data access will transform the roles of health and care professionals over the coming years. Data insights already enable provider organisations to maximise the efficiency of telehealth and digital telecare services. This ensures their services join up and are mutually reinforced. But that’s only the beginning.

Enhanced data access will also enable health and care professionals to shift their focus from reactive care towards pre-emptive and preventative solutions. Microsoft can help you create a 360 degree view of an individual’s care history. This can include key factors such as their housing needs and caring responsibilities. By making use of the latest in analytics and AI, we support ICSs to improve health and care outcomes for their whole population. That means redesigning care pathways to promote wellbeing, prevention and independence. For example, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is doing some great work in this area.

Unify your data, unify your workforce

Data sharing also fosters a ‘one workforce’ culture of collaboration which extends across the health and care spectrum. 90 percent of ICSs have already adopted a shared care record. They’re using their newfound connectivity to improve how primary, secondary, mental health, and social care work with each other. Additionally, they’re supporting local social and economic development. Rich data and analytics will help the different components of an ICS to work together. They can tackle health inequalities, prioritise at-risk population groups and deliver the best possible care to all.

In this way, data sharing will be a major contributor to creating healthier, happier communities. Microsoft can help ICSs work towards this brighter future while ensuring a ‘privacy-by-design’ approach that ensures the highest levels of data security and role-based access controls.

We’ve only scratched the surface

“The scale of the challenge cannot be underestimated. But neither can the potential rewards,” says Geraint Lewis, Director of Population Health at Microsoft. “Because of their focus on preventive care, and the impact they can have on the wider determinants of health, Integrated Care Systems are ideally poised to help their populations live longer, happier and healthier lives.”

Budgetary pressures will doubtless remain, but technology can help ensure that ICSs use their resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. Data is one of an ICS’s most valuable assets. However, many NHS organisations are only scratching at the surface of its true potential. At Microsoft, we can help your ICS access, connect and translate your population’s data. We’ll help you identify opportunities for improving the quality, equity and efficiency of care. Use this ‘opportunity analysis’ to shape your policies, empower your workforce, and to level up your providers and the communities they serve.

Find out more

Data-led foundation for unrivalled patient care

About the author

Umang is a Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft with a passion for ensuring that technology delivers its full potential and value in healthcare. He is also a practising NHS paediatrician and has a background working across multiple sectors covering both payors and providers. Umang was a foundational member of start-up Babylon Health which had a successful IPO in 2021 on the New York Stock Exchange. With Microsoft, Umang is helping shape the digital transformation in health across the UK which is aiming for better outcomes through seamless integration and innovation. 

The post Part 1: The role of data in helping communities to level up appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to fully grasp an opportunity. Virtual wards were invented in the early 2000’s by Dr Geraint Lewis, now Director of Population Health at Microsoft. Despite that, it’s only in the last few years that they have taken the NHS by storm. Virtual wards help reduce hospital admissions, keep patients safer, and discharge them earlier in collaboration with social care where appropriate.

Watford General Hospital was an early adopter. They use remote monitoring technology to monitor patients’ symptoms and physiological parameters such as heart rate, level of oxygen saturation and temperature. Their app-based model proved overwhelmingly popular with staff and patients alike. In a survey conducted on behalf of the NHSE, 95 percent of patients found the application easy to use and 93 percent were pleased with the remote care service.

See virtual wards in action: NHSE Director of Digital Care Models Tara Donnelly shared a video showing how remote monitoring technologies supported over 78,000 people across England between November 2020 and May 2021.

Widespread remote care is closer than you think

COVID-19 may have been the catalyst, but the long-term potential of harnessing remote technology is clear. By the end of 2021, over 53 virtual wards were providing over 2,500 ‘beds’ nationwide. They support people with a range of conditions. From acute respiratory infections to urinary tract infections and chronic pulmonary disease to more complex presentations, such as people living with frailty.

The NHS is now spending up to £450 million to create at least 25,000 virtual ward beds over the next few years. They help increase capacity, efficiency and safety. Additionally, virtual wards allow health and care providers to: “Fully exploit remote monitoring technology and wider digital platforms to deliver effective and efficient care,” according to the latest operational and planning guidance from the NHS. 

At Microsoft, we’re helping health and care providers harness technology to bring the hospital ward into the home. For example, the staff at Kendal Care Home in Cumbria have been using Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and Microsoft Teams. This allows GPs to speak to and assess elderly residents in a COVID-safe way—something they’ve celebrated as a “game changer”.

Virtual wards: A hospital in every home?

There’s a reason why hospitals the world over are organised into wards. Now imagine making use of all the systems, staffing and daily routines of a hospital ward—developed and improved over decades—but in the patient’s home. That’s the power of a virtual ward. The point is that remote monitoring and communication technology are essential but not sufficient. To provide safe and effective care, you must apply these technologies within a robust framework. That’s why virtual wards mirror the structures and processes of their real-world counterparts, while replicating several core functions digitally.

Any virtual ward must include:

• Admission process—an easy to follow, step-by-step process to onboard new patients remotely.
• “Call bell” system—patients can call for help via a video conferencing and messaging app. There’s also failsafe backup arrangements in place.
• Regular observations—remote monitoring allows clinicians to keep an eye on each patient’s vital stats. Differing from patient to patient, these may include blood pressure, temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate etc.
• Tests—patients can conduct blood, urine and other routine tests. These can be uploaded remotely under guidance from clinicians where required.
• Medicines—patients should receive instructions and prompts about which medicines to take, at what time, and can confirm what they’ve taken.
• Ward rounds—video conferencing enables a virtual ward team to review patients face-to-face
• Board rounds—remote whiteboard and productivity tools enable a virtual ward team to quickly review all the patients under their care
• Escalation—a streamlined process moves patients to a real hospital if their condition deteriorates.
• Engaging the support network—extend communication channels to friends and family and formal carers.
• Discharge process—a system for patients to leave their virtual ward and return to the care of their GPs.

Aside from the high level of care coordination, one of the main reasons why virtual wards are so popular with patients is all the above can be done while they sleep in their own beds—and enjoy their own food!

The potential of virtual wards is clear for all to see. At Microsoft, we’re excited to see how remote care evolves. Also, we’re proud to play a key role in supporting the nationwide roll out.

Find out more

Find out more about Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare

About the author

Umang is a Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft with a passion for ensuring that technology delivers its full potential and value in healthcare. He is also a practising NHS paediatrician and has a background working across multiple sectors covering both payors and providers. Umang was a foundational member of start-up Babylon Health which had a successful IPO in 2021 on the New York Stock Exchange. With Microsoft, Umang is helping shape the digital transformation in health across the UK which is aiming for better outcomes through seamless integration and innovation. 

The post Virtual wards, real world benefits appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

I think this is true. There are always going to be more patients. But as recent times have shown, there’s hardly ever going to be enough of everything else.

The last two years has certainly exacerbated this situation. Backlogs of patients requiring care have multiplied dramatically. We’ve essentially lost two years’ worth of elective treatment. And waiting lists are worse than ever.

Despite this, I’m actually optimistic. We’ve known that we would have to face up to these challenges eventually. The pandemic has significantly brought them forward, but we’ve also learnt a lot about ourselves over the last few years.

It is a fact of life that demand for healthcare will grow faster than our supply of doctors and nurses. As a result, we must be open to how technology can help.

What’s interesting, however, is that a lot of the challenges that we didn’t know how to answer have already been by necessity. We didn’t know if people would use their phones and various technology to interact with healthcare. But they have and it’s not been anywhere near as problematic as we thought.

In other words, it turns out that technology is much further along than we thought it would be for our sector.

More importantly, we can now much more confidently use it to deal with more current and future issues. We can tackle key problems such as clearing waiting lists, improving time management and more.

The importance of looking at the bigger picture

I may be Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft, but I’m also a paediatrician. Spending my Fridays at the children’s hospital is still my favourite part of the week. This is where I get to really see life on the shop floor. As a result, I can help find the digital solutions to help improve it.

And the inspiration can really come from anywhere. For example, at the hospital we use an orange, lever arch folder where we store all the relevant information about a patient; tests we’ve run, follow-ups and more.

One time the orange folder broke. There was panic, because we didn’t have another ‘orange’ folder to replace it (we only had black ones). We ended up having to order a new one online.

Now, the beauty of my job is not just finding a solution to this particular – and relatively small – issue. But to solve them on a much broader scale. Replacing the orange folder shouldn’t be the end goal. There are so many other parts of that system that we cannot just improve but transform for the better.

Using the cloud to stay agile in healthcare

One of the big issues we’ve always had in healthcare is that there’s always another revolution coming, another update or digital initiative that needs to be actioned.

To prevent the inevitable fatigue that comes from lots of change, we need to ensure everything we are doing is scalable and fit for the future. I believe that the answer to this is the cloud. We’re never going to be able to implement all of this if we do it as a small step. The last two years have shown us that we need to take some big steps. Cloud technology gives us just that. Combine that with Microsoft’s suite of CRM apps, like Dynamics 365, and we will be able to deliver patients with specific information, send them personalised advice and engage with them more.

Just look at the work we’re doing with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. They have moved their entire electronic record to the cloud. This has given them functionalities and scale that will serve them well into the future.

Leeds covers one and a half million patients. They’ve got about 20,000 staff and the sheer number of electronic forms that they must process has grown by 300,000 since 2015. That’s hundreds of thousands more forms that patients and caregivers are filling in. Additionally, they then need to be processed. It would be a nearly impossible task if they hadn’t just moved it all to the Azure cloud.

Beyond making them far more scalable this has also helped them to use their extra computing elsewhere. And therefore, to do things such as keeping track of data, analyse it and review it for any future needs.

Simplifying processes and consultations via Teams

Another technology that’s proving key in solving backlogs is Microsoft Teams.

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust caregivers lead the way in this respect. They carry out virtual consultations that allow patients to utilise teams for clinical interactions.

This has double benefits. On one hand, it allows caregivers to visit their patients without having them come to the clinic. On the other, it gives patients greater visibility of their appointments. Additionally, they can reschedule without having to go through back-and-forth calls.

I have learned the pains of contacting patients through regular phones the hard way. For privacy reasons, the NHS forbids us to leave voicemails to patients, unless that person has a message that states who they are. Whilst understandable, this is a rather outdated policy as now no one picks up a private callers’ phone and too few people check their voicemail.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to start saying to our patients directly during the consultation: I’m going to send you a link for you to have the next appointment. However, even better than that they can choose a time that works best and it will automatically go into both our calendars.

And if you need to change it, you can do that online without wasting time with inefficient telephone calls.

Managing resources though Power Apps

Another brilliant way to use technology to clear backlogs and waiting times is using data and data-centric low and no code solutions.

We all obsess about this ability to try and find the right data and then be able to use it meaningfully to achieve better patient outcomes. With the help of cloud technology, organisations are increasingly shifting towards huge data centres. Here, they can analyse data in real time and use it to make decisions and forecast, identify patterns and much more.

Just look at the extraordinary work by the Northern Care Alliance. They use Microsoft Power Apps to get continuous, real-time updates on the state of beds and bays at their facilities.

In operation since before the pandemic, this solution turned out to be a game changer during the tough months of lockdowns, when the status of wards and beds would evolve constantly. Thanks to the solution, staff at the Northern Care Alliance were able to check availability on real-time dashboards and allocate available beds in a much more efficient way.

Driving digital modernisation in healthcare

The most amazing thing about the NHS is that it’s simply the world’s biggest team. Every person working within it is there to look after patients and is committed to doing things better.

If we can use technology to let this huge team be more efficient and work better together, we’ll really be able to help clear the backlog and relieve staff of all the simple repetitive tasks that frustrate them and get in the way of treating patients.

Organisations often ask me how they can start this much-needed digital modernisation in the most effective way.

My advice is to simply start off by looking around you. See what other organisations are doing, and then pick up the phone and find out how they got started and what is going well. Also keep an open mind. In my experience, there is always a group of people that will remain negative. But don’t be discouraged by that – once you get started, you’ll be surprised at how quickly momentum can build and what seemed implausible becomes routine.

Lastly, make sure that you set and over-communicate your goals. Embracing new technologies will help empower all caregivers to achieve more – freeing them to spend more time caring for patients and leading to better outcomes. Plus, you’ll be making sure the foundations are strong for continued innovation, ensuring healthcare is fit for the future.

Microsoft Envision UK

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Join us at our first in-person UK conference in over two years where we will explore the road ahead in 2022 and beyond.

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Find out more

 Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare

The transformation imperative in healthcare

The Digital Healthcare Playbook

Healthcare Delivery Cloud Solutions

About the author

Umang is a Chief Clinical Information Officer at Microsoft with a passion for ensuring that technology delivers its full potential and value in healthcare. He is also a practising NHS paediatrician and has a background working across multiple sectors covering both payors and providers. Umang was a foundational member of start-up Babylon Health which had a successful IPO in 2021 on the New York Stock Exchange. With Microsoft, Umang is helping shape the digital transformation in health across the UK which is aiming for better outcomes through seamless integration and innovation. 

The post Using technology to manage the healthcare backlog appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

For most of her patient life, the burden of managing both worlds – healthcare and social care – fell on my grandfather, an 80-plus-year-old gentleman with a passion for technology. As her home-based support, he was always eager to help, but often lacked the knowledge and means to do it. No one had ever taught him how to carry out remote monitoring or use blood pressure cuffs. As a result, he frequently struggled to keep my grandmother’s clinician informed in-between visits.

Today, technology is fundamentally changing how care is provided. Modern digital solutions are shifting the industry towards telehealth and remote services. This allows people like my grandparents to receive care at any time, wherever they are.

At the same time, the role of hospitals is changing too.

We’ve long been used to seeing them as patient magnets, but now the paradigm is shifting. As Integrated Care Systems prepare to launch in the UK, hospitals are turning into centres of excellence for clinicians.

That’s something that we at Microsoft want to help achieve. Using technology, we’re working to position hospitals as the lighthouse at the centre of planned and critical treatment. Providing patients with all the clinical coverage and expertise they need, without needing to be physically present.

Delivering unparalleled services in a new era of accessible and equitable care.

From hospital to housepital and hospitel

When I was a young student in Germany, I used to take a very peculiar type of school bus – one that today would be the definition of ‘utilitarian’. During the day, they were taking us to school, but overnight, they could easily be turned into field ambulances. They were capable of hosting some 20 hospital beds in case of necessity. 

Years have passed since then, and yet the concept is still very much the same. If anything, it’s been amplified by the pandemic.

COVID-19 has expanded the way people see hospitals. They can almost be any place where you can safely plug in a laptop and use equipment to treat patients. This has meant repurposing both public-serving spaces. For example, we now talk about hospitels – or private ones, also called housepitals.

Countries around the world are now using hotel rooms as quarantine locations for those needing to self-isolate. Meanwhile, during lockdowns we’ve seen hospitality suites at the Arsenal Stadium being turned into pregnancy clinics. Field hospitals have been set up on the back of mini-buses and conference pavilions became hospital wards. All in the space of weeks.  

Finally, virtual wards and remote care are increasingly taking place in our living rooms and bedrooms, where doctors can check on their patients through online platforms.    

Towards a more hybrid patient journey

As the role of hospitals continues to be redefined, technology and data are reshaping the way health services are provided.  

From the earliest stages of preoperative care, all the way through on-site services to the very end of postoperative care, digital solutions are turning the patient journey into a mix of on and off-site care. This helps organisations cope with demand and make better use of their resources.  

A prime example is Project Breathe, a scheme that I’ve been fortunate to work on and which targets teenage and child patients with cystic fibrosis. Crucial to those suffering from this condition, which affects the lungs, is exercising at least three times a day to keep their breathing normal.

To make sure even the youngest patients commit to it – particularly when at home – Project Breathe has developed a solution that allows children to play computer games while blowing into their spirometer.

This isn’t just helping make the exercise more enjoyable. It also gains key data on the patient’s condition, which can then be analysed to make predictions. All while the patient never leaves home.

Sharing is caring

As a Global Industry specialist, my role is to oversee how Microsoft is helping organisations around the world to implement pioneering technology. That’s something really powerful. It allows me to learn valuable lessons across different countries and apply them to the British healthcare sector.

It’s also a great opportunity to share knowledge and expertise among various organisations and put them in contact for greater collaboration. A great example is the DRIVE initiative that Great Ormond Street Hospital has launched.

Created in collaboration with University College London and Siemens, this initiative brings together doctors, medical device experts and academics. Its goal is to come up with initiatives that inspire care teams to make more and better use of technology in their work.

This, to me, is fundamental to empowering the healthcare sector. Ensuring that all clinics and institutes have the same resources and capabilities is at the heart of providing efficient, reliable care for our communities. As well as the reason why I do this job: For the opportunity to create better access to healthcare and access to better healthcare.  

Making healthcare accessible and equitable

If we really want to realise the idea of ‘hospitals everywhere’, then we need to ensure that everyone has the same technological means to access it. 

This is, in my opinion, one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing. We’re seeing an increasingly strong link between health inequities and digital inclusion. As as result, too many people find themselves underserved and unable to access vital care.

Take my parents, for example. Living in a not-spot, they only get Wi-Fi connectivity when the Edinburgh to London train goes through, thanks to its onboard hotspot. Outside of that, they have to hang the phone out of their bedroom window to get a signal.

How can you run tele consultations when you’re living in these conditions?

That, to me, is where I see partnerships and collaborations like DRIVE to really make the difference. They bring together different types of expertise to make sure that people can receive care wherever they are, however they need it. All while developing affordable solutions, as well as educating people to make the best of them.

Starting out for a new healthcare

I am not usually one to make predictions. However, one thing I know with certainty is that ten years from now, technology will be the deciding factor between successful and unsuccessful organisations. Those of them that have not embraced digital transformation will have a tough time coping.

So how exactly can they get there? What are the first few steps you can take to realise digital transformation at your organisation?

The most important thing when starting off is figuring out where you are today. Take an honest assessment of where you’re starting from. Then, identify an initial two or three goals you want to achieve.

Be realistic about what’s possible and understand your ability to absorb change, as well as where to go and ask for help. Once that comes, the next part is making sure you partner, listen and learn from other organisations.

My advice is also to embrace a risk-taking culture. The unpredictability of COVID-19 has proven that this is crucial.

It’s also shown that when crisis hits, the NHS has proven to itself that it can adapt quickly and deliver some great services. These may not be perfect yet, but they’re a great start to further change and efficiencies.

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• Drive patient engagement
• 10 real AI applications in healthcare
• A guide to data for healthcare leaders
• Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare

About the author

David is currently a Global Industry Specialist for Microsoft with a focus on Healthcare and Life Sciences. He is a highly experienced business strategist and futurist with a technology pivot. David is driven to help address digital exclusion and heath inequities through his work and collaboration with healthcare systems around the globe. He completed his MBA at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, graduating with a distinction. David continues to live in Asia but operate globally. Some of his work includes the strategy on closing the gap in Indonesia’s universal health insurance system of almost 290 million members. His daily mission is to think about how digital transformation we can create better access to healthcare, and access to better healthcare.

The post Hospitals everywhere: The answer to accessible and equitable healthcare? appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

For a long time, the exchange of this highly critical medical information has happened via paper-based forms. An ambulance crew would fill out a form and then pass it to the A&E team when they arrived at the hospital. This increasingly outdated system is prone to delays – the information cannot be transmitted in advance – thereby putting the patient’s health at further risk.

Today, these and many other processes can be digitalised and automated simply and effectively with no/low-code apps. Quick, easy to use and develop, these business apps are becoming the answer to healthcare’s constantly evolving requirements.

Together with our partner Akari Solutions, we recently developed an app for an NHS service specialised in treating strokes and managing stroke referrals. Using Microsoft Power Apps, Akari helped them build a solution that allows medical professionals to fill out digital forms with patient data. Then, they share it directly with the specialist centre. As a result, they can follow the patient wherever they are in their treatment journey.

This is only one of many examples of organisations turning to no/low-code applications and automation to manage current and future challenges. It’s also something that we have been actively engaged in over the past few years – helping the NHS improve operational efficiency and patient experience with simple yet cutting-edge technology. Here’s how we’re doing it.

The importance of delivering patient-focussed services

The past two years have been incredibly challenging for the UK healthcare sector, but they’ve also catalysed much needed digital transformation. Faced with new issues such as lockdowns and long-standing ones such as reduced capacity, an ageing population and increasing clinician burnout, the NHS has been forced to rethink many of the ways it operates.

To ensure that healthcare staff spend as much time as possible with their patients, we’ve seen the health service realise the importance of modernising processes, putting greater emphasis on efficiency and resource optimisation, as well as automating manual tasks.

Technology and patient engagement are – now more than ever – intrinsically tied. NHS organisations are increasingly turning to digital solutions to ensure continuity of care and a seamless experience for all.

This digital transformation entails both giving patients greater access to data, but also helping care teams make better use of their time. The importance of thorough record-keeping and the complexity of modern medicine puts pressure on the time that doctors can spend with their patients. In some parts of the NHS, this issue is exacerbated by outdated hardware and by non-interoperable systems. Sometimes, doctors have to log into 20 or more different systems per day. That leaves the workforce under even more pressure and paves the way for further inefficiencies.

Luckily, this is where no/low-code applications and automation technology can help.

Turning the tide with no/low code applications and automation platforms

With business applications like Microsoft’s Power Apps, NHS organisations can create highly cost-effective, quick and simple solutions that can cater to their many needs.

Using these applications, NHS staff can create bespoke solutions using low amounts of coding (or even no coding at all). They’re easy to build, manage and scale. In addition, the drag-and-drop functionalities and pre-built templates simplify the process. As a result, senior-level developers are no longer required to build high-quality, secure apps and automations.

That is game-changing. Not only does it enable faster time-to-deployment compared to traditional software developments. But it also allows people with different experiences to give their input when building the apps. This ultimately creates highly customised solutions that meet their specific needs.

Just imagine how transformational that can be for a healthcare service like the NHS, composed of hundreds of hospitals across the country. Indeed, many of the solutions and processes we’ve already created via Power Platform can be applied to all NHS Trusts.

From time-critical situations to day-to-day patient referral

Power Apps has a transformational potential in many areas of healthcare, particularly when it comes to resource management. For example, our partner ANS recently developed a Power App that helps NHS Trusts equip their frontline staff with the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) kits.

During the pandemic, this provisioning used to happen via a multitude of apps and websites. However, as soon as demand increased dramatically, inefficiencies in the system meant that some hospitals had too much PPE and others not enough. With their new Power App, Trusts can now keep track of PPE availability and order new supplies more effectively.

Another great example is the work we’ve carried out with the London Air Ambulance Charity. This is an advanced trauma team that looks after patients needing emergency medical treatment in the capital, and who are unlikely to survive the journey to hospital by road.

Here again, the team has started using Power Apps to build a range of checklist apps that replace their existing paper-based processes. They’re now also attaching QR codes to their medical bags, which can then be scanned to keep track of equipment.

Beyond emergency response, we’re seeing more and more organisations turn to business apps to automate all kinds of manual process. Our client, an NHS Foundation Trust, is a prime example.

As a mental health organisation, they sometimes refer their patients to other specialists. Previously, these referrals would happen through email or fax. Now, the organisation has created a primary to secondary care referral system – via Power Apps. This system allows them to share patient information in a seamless and secure way. All while reducing the opportunity for mistakes and delays to occur.

Building no/low code apps with Power Platform

After an incredibly challenging period, it’s time for healthcare to look ahead. The past two years have demonstrated the importance of having agile, fast and digital solutions that simplify operations for clinicians, giving them time back to spend with their patients.

So how can you get started with Microsoft Power Platform?

First off, make sure you know what you’re embarking on. We have a lot of resources – from self-paced learning courses to in-person digital events – designed to help you understand the benefits of no/low-code applications and automation platforms.

Once you’ve done all your research, ask yourself: What are some of the day-to-day processes or challenges that could be significantly improved through automation? Which of those are the most impactful and time-sensitive?

These two questions alone will likely already generate ideas for the first few apps and automations that you could create. For whatever comes next, we’re here to help.     

Find out more

Discover Power Platform Training Days

Get Power Platform learning resources

About the author

Ana is Enterprise Sales Manager for Business Applications in the UK Public Sector. With more than 15 years’ experience in technology, she is a technologist, and evangelist with a specialism Healthcare and Education and is passionate about using technology for good.

The post How no/low code apps power patient engagement and operational efficiency appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Frontline workers have suffered ongoing disruption throughout the pandemic which has led to considerable exhaustion and burn out. Increased working hours and pressure means they are also likely to experience a feeling of disconnection from their organisation and their team. As a result, organisations need to support healthcare staff wellbeing. Based on the Work Trend Index Special Report, one of the main focuses organisations should have when it comes to building an inclusive team culture is ensuring frontline workers have the digital tools to stay connected to core organisational messages and resources.

Improving connections to organisational knowledge

Technology like Microsoft Viva Connections can play an important role in shaping the organisational culture to include frontline workers. Viva Connections brings together relevant news, conversations and resources from around your organisation into one place within Teams. It provides both a desktop and mobile experience. Viva Connections is built on the current Microsoft 365 ecosystem within your organisation. It’s powered by SharePoint to help inform, engage, and empower the hybrid workforce. The Viva Connections experience is fully customisable to your organisation’s requirements. Living in Teams, this allows all employees to access information no matter what device they are using and where they are. As a result, all healthcare workers can complete their roles without the need to search for different websites, use different and outdated applications or load resources and tools which only work on a PC.

An improved and updated intranet brought into the flow of daily work in Microsoft Teams provides a simple way for health organisations to deliver all relevant news to frontline workers. It can also create a safe and collaborative space for healthcare teams. This can support organisations in their efforts of keeping employees engaged which can result in higher levels of retention.

Every day, new healthcare regulations are put in place by governments. Often, healthcare workers struggle to find the latest government regulation or guidance and may struggle to pro-actively locate this information. With Viva connections, organisational leaders know they can deliver this content in a uniform experience to all employees, regardless of role.

Delivering connections to new employees

Viva Connections can be particularly useful for new healthcare workers. When joining an organisation it is often difficult to embrace and understand the organisation’s culture and mission. Especially remotely when on the frontline and not in an office setting. Viva Connections provides a virtual resource portal for a new healthcare worker. It supports onboarding through a customisable dashboard which can be personalised to different employee roles. The dashboard delivers a tailored view of these resources through adaptive cards. These can be targeted directly to frontline workers and their own needs. Popular use cases can include weblinks to view pay and benefits, submit holiday requests, view and manage shifts or access time sheets. All these are opened within the Teams browser on a mobile device.

Through the dashboard experience, Viva Connections also provides an extensible platform, where 3^rd party integration such as ServiceNow, LifeWorks or Talentsoft can be plugged directly through adaptive cards. This means that employees can access and complete even more tasks directly from the Connections app. As a result, healthcare workers can save large amounts of time. This is because they no longer need to search the organisations intranet for scattered resources.

Take control of your organisation’s internal communication strategy

In a hybrid working world where healthcare workers are likely to be more disconnected than ever from their organisations, both information workers working from home and workers using mobile devices on the frontline have benefitted from using Microsoft Teams. Now, in this evolution of Microsoft Teams, Viva Connections can ensure healthcare workers stay in touch with their organisation’s latest news, legal requirements and their organisation’s mission and purpose.

To learn more about Viva Connections please connect with Edward Adamson and Ioana Marinescu on LinkedIn. Or, contact your Microsoft account team and we can organise a Viva Connections envisioning session.

Find out more

Get started with Microsoft Viva Connections

Work Trend Index Special Report

3 ways technology can help rebuild your frontline workforce

What’s a Simple Definition of Employee Engagement?

Viva Connections mobile and new partner integrations are now generally available

About the authors

Edward is currently a Modern Work Specialist working with healthcare organisations across the UK, helping on their journey towards digital transformation. Focussing on hybrid working, frontline technologies and wellbeing and productivity management, connect with Edward on LinkedIn to follow content relating to healthcare and Microsoft 365 optimisation.

Ioana works with healthcare organisations across the UK to improve their journey towards digital transformation using Microsoft 365 technologies. She helps healthcare organisations utilise Microsoft Teams to connect multi-disciplinary communities across the organisation, bring wellbeing and productivity management into the flow of everyday work and surface knowledge and learning across the organisation.

The post How to keep frontline healthcare workers connected with digital technology appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Those people often go on to tell us they had barely realised this technology existed. Or they seem to believe it’s brand new. However, the HoloLens has been around for five years and it’s currently in its second iteration.

In many ways, this discrepancy is understandable. If clinicians and healthcare professionals haven’t experienced mixed reality for themselves they can easily dismiss HoloLens alongside the litany of over-hyped innovations which eventually go nowhere.

Also, if you’re of a certain generation in the UK, and grew up watching programmes like ‘Tomorrow’s World’ – you could be forgiven for having an almost reflexive scepticism about some technology. After all, wasn’t everyone supposed to have a jetpack by about 1995? And whatever happened to meals in ‘pill form’?

Oddly enough, that scepticism is far less evident in the NHS. There seemed to be a fervent appetite for innovation within several of the trusts we work with. Recently, digital modernisation and innovation has accelerated. That momentum is showing no signs of waning. This enthusiasm is spreading to mixed reality, and HoloLens 2 in particular.

But before we go any further and talk about some of the ways HoloLens is being applied in the NHS – we should probably establish exactly what we mean by ‘mixed reality’.

Mixed reality in focus

“Oh, so this is augmented reality, is it?”

“What’s this, a VR headset?”

Two of the questions we frequently get asked when attending events like Giant Health. And to be fair, the person on the street is far less familiar with the concept of mixed reality, as opposed to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

AR overlays a digital element onto the physical world while VR creates a wholly separate virtual world. Mixed reality is about blending the physical and the digital together. The phrase we often use at Microsoft is: Embedding computing into the real world, and the real world into computing.

In other words, when you’re wearing a HoloLens 2 headset, you can still see the real world. But you’re bringing in interactive digital content. And as you move around the space in the real world, that digital content remains in a fixed position. If you drop a virtual ball, for example, it will hit the ground and bounce back at you – because HoloLens is aware of and constantly mapping out your real environment.

How the NHS innovates and collaborates with the HoloLens

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been consistently impressed by the eagerness on the part of the NHS to experiment with technology and innovate. In fact, when it comes to mixed reality, it’s no exaggeration to say the NHS is at the very forefront.

One of the projects we’re particularly proud of is our collaboration with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

When the pandemic hit, the trust found itself on the frontline. Not only treating patients but trying to simultaneously protect its frontline staff inside some of the busiest hospitals across the most high-risk areas of London. They began using HoloLens 2 with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Microsoft Teams to reduce the number of people needed on ward rounds.  

A doctor wearing a HoloLens headset would send a secure live video feed to a computer screen in a nearby room. This allows the rest of the team to see and hear everything on the ward and support the doctor while remaining at a safe distance.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust stated that HoloLens led to as much as an 83 percent reduction in the time staff needed to spend in high-risk areas. It also reduced the need for PPE significantly, because suddenly only the doctor with the headset needed it. Estimates even suggest that using HoloLens saved up to 700 items of PPE per ward, per week.

Using innovation to build skills in students

It’s fair to say the success at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust created some momentum. We set up a monthly call with interested NHS trusts, so we could share knowledge and discuss other areas where the technology could be put to work. As we put the technology in the hands of clinicians and educators we saw innovative adoption from patient education to multi-disciplinary teams, surgical planning, to community outreach. In particular, it enables remote access to medical students to complete virtual ward rounds. We have seen development of procedural guides for nurse and clinician training and adoption of patient simulation software.

And one key outcome was our association with Health Education England (HEE), which is the executive body for healthcare training across England. They were unable to effectively train staff on how to treat COVID-19 patients, while medical students were falling behind with their practical tutoring.

So, we assembled a team of top-tier partners, including Insight, GigXR, Fracture Reality and Dimension, to create training resources using HoloLens. This helped HEE address this growing skills gap and cross-train existing staff.

Likewise, Case Western University in the US used HoloLens to develop its ‘HoloAnatomy’ application, which combines cadaver dissections with mixed-reality simulations. Students are, in some cases, improving their overall grades as a result of this initiative. In the longer term, students in the HoloAnatomy lab scored a staggering 50 percent better on their retention tests and required 40 percent less class time than previous years. Medical students can also use the HoloLens for remote education.

Results like this have led us to help found an independent body called the Holomedicine Association. Here, medical professionals can come together, swap ideas and share best practice. The body is also exploring the standards, certifications, policies and research that will soon be vital, if mixed reality continues its current trajectory.  

Connecting experts and clinicians together remotely

Of course, nothing beats real life, hands-on experience. Especially in education. We have no intentions to replace in-person interaction with mixed reality. Rather, we aim to complement it where possible. Clinicians can use mixed reality to build muscle memory undertaking mixed reality procedural training in simulation labs such as University of Michigan, Imperial and East Lancashire Hospitals. Or experts can easily oversee student or community carer in the field to give guidance and supervision. Collaborative mixed reality platforms are enabling students to get exposure to training anywhere in the world. At Imperial, Michigan and Alder Hey, they are conducting Grand Ward Rounds using solutions such as JoinXR – Fracture Reality.

However, there may also be times when practical experience is too hard to come by. For example, many surgeons have told us about those extraordinary, ‘once in a career’ procedures – and how useful mixed reality could be in preparing for them.

Likewise, there may be a handful of global experts in a single, rare condition or procedure – and they can’t be in two places at once. Not physically, at least. But with mixed reality, they can consult and even play an active role in treatments on different continents in the same afternoon. Language doesn’t present a barrier either, because the technology already exists to listen and translate voices within HoloLens, in real time. Partners such as ApoQlar are enabling the ability to visualise medical image data in 3D and collaborate immersively.

That, in turn, feeds into a wider point about sustainability. Of course, a world-famous surgeon may have less need to jet around the globe if they can use HoloLens effectively. However, it’s not just in such rarefied contexts that mixed reality can make healthcare greener.

For example, one of our partners operates care homes in an area of roughly eight square-miles around Torbay, Devon. That sounds like a small-level operation, doesn’t it? Until we tell you that their community nursing team clocks over a million miles of travel per year. In that situation, a few dozen HoloLens headsets could help enable clinical experts to cover more patients and increase access to care – a remarkable environmental impact that two organisations, Kendall Care Homes and Torbay Breast Care Unit, are already seeing after adopting HoloLens 2 in 2021.

Now is the time to commit to mixed reality

Innovation in healthcare is a huge topic. And while our special interest lies in mixed reality, that doesn’t mean we’re blind to the other startling breakthroughs in the sector. There are few more impressive than the application of AI and machine learning to diagnostics.

For example, at Microsoft, we’ve partnered with the Mental Health Trust to explore certain models for predicting psychotic episodes. Elsewhere, predicative analytics is being applied to conditions like sepsis and hypertension with impressive results. We are also seeing the use of mixed reality in teaching soft skills through programmable avatars and applications in rehabilitation.

The wider point is that we’re not discussing this technology in the abstract. Mixed reality, AI and machine learning are not the jetpacks or pill meals of Tomorrow’s World. Far from it. Tools like HoloLens 2 are being used by healthcare professionals in the NHS and elsewhere today. And the more we combine them with other capabilities like cognitive services and IoT – the more powerful they will become.

Find out more

Discover how digitally transforming your organisation can drive better experiences, better insights and better care.

Forrester Industry Report: Mixed Reality in Healthcare

Resources to empower your developer team

Introduction to mixed reality

Mixed reality toolkit

About the authors

Joe Varrasso is the Europe Mixed Reality Partner Lead, building out an ecosystem of key industry partners helping to innovate with Mixed Reality in key industries. Specifically, Joe has also been focussed on the Healthcare Industry and is a Founding Member of the Holomedicine Association. 

Alex leads the IoT and Mixed Reality businesses for Microsoft UK. Prior to Microsoft, Alex led the deployment of HoloLens 2 for McLaren and later worked with Microsoft partner Kognitiv Spark. In his new role at Microsoft, Alex is focussed on accelerating the adoption of Metaverse technologies such as Mixed Reality, IoT and Azure in the UK.

The post How the healthcare sector is innovating appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Imagine a scenario where you’ve got a horse and cart, and you need to get from point A to point B. Using them will take you there, but if somebody offered you a jet, you wouldn’t think twice about switching to the better form of transport. You’d get there much faster and in more comfort. Plus, you’d be able to do a whole lot more on the way.

The equivalent in today’s healthcare industry is technology.

I’ve been working in this sector for nearly 30 years. It’s my passion, not just my job. Throughout this time, I’ve come to see technology and digitalisation as the very spine of healthcare – harnessing real, meaningful data insights and using them to save lives.

The past two years are testament to that. Whilst this time has presented great challenges for the sector, healthcare organisations deserve huge credit for responding to these issues positively and with unprecedented speed. At the same time, tech adoption has soared too, giving the industry a much-needed lifeline and allowing the development of a vaccine in just 18 months. This is a remarkable achievement.  

But now that we’re looking ahead, even more needs to be done to embed technology into healthcare. How do we make sure that we exploit its transformational capabilities even more, and start to fully use jets rather than just a horse and cart?

It all starts with data

In 2020, I was invited to give a keynote speech at an event where I put up a slide that said:

The point is still true. Healthcare data is an incredibly powerful tool. However, we’re still not making the most of it.

From social-economic variables to patient data, dietary information, hereditary data and more, organisations are combining different data sets to get insights on patterns and trends that can ultimately save lives.

This leads to a more predictive and precision-led type of medicine that’s moving care away from hospitals to the point of actual need. Organisations are no longer just treating something that’s already happened. They’re using data to predict what might happen to a patient in the future.

That is extraordinary, but it’s all the greater when you look at the ripple effects. Leveraging healthcare data means being able to carry out precision-led treatments. Also, it improves the accuracy, timeliness and delivery of care. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to decrease the need for repeat or ongoing treatment.

This approach can also positively impact the sustainability agenda and targets in this industry. Predictive and precision medicine can reduce footfall and traffic for consultations. This means we reduce the carbon emissions generated via travel as well as reducing the level of stress that citizens go through for repeat treatments.

The importance of securing and sharing data

An important part of intelligent healthcare is making sure that the data is securely made available to everyone authorised to use it when treating patients. That’s when things like open data and open platforms come in to enable healthcare as a secure ecosystem to treat patients.

Previously data would be collected by GPs and hospitals. Now patients are actively involved in the process. They can share their own data – such as blood pressure, vitals and blood levels – through medical devices and wearables.

This creates the need to build a secure, combined record for both GPs and patients that can accommodate all data feeds. Clinicians can then use it to have a more holistic, accurate and relevant health data record.

To support this natural progression, healthcare needs data platforms that can ingest data from multiple sources without duplication and compromising security.

As part of this process, the industry is finally shifting away from a siloed system whereby each organisation has its own data platform. They’re creating platforms that other medical institutions can feed data into. That data is secure, anonymised and protected, but open for anyone authorised to use it.

Inside the institutions that are leading the way

Having access to an enriched dataset – incorporating both healthcare and citizen updates – and being able to apply AI and machine learning to it can lead to deep patient insights, faster diagnosis and, ultimately, improved treatment.

One of the best parts of working at Microsoft is helping organisations analyse and select the solution that is right for them and make the most of it. It’s great to see how many facilities are turning to technology to achieve their goals.

A prime example is the Cleveland Clinic, which is using AI to identify patients at potential risk in the ICU by equipping Cortana, Microsoft’s voice assistant, with predictive and advanced analytics. Powered by Azure Machine Learning, the solution uses data collected from monitoring units in ICUs to predict if a patient will need to be administered specific medicines to prevent potential cardiac failure.

Another area that comes to mind is smart hospitals, where healthcare IoT is being used to keep patients safe by monitoring changes in their temperature, breathing and distress through smart beds, voice activated assistants and robots. All to alert nurses and doctors in case of potential emergency.  

Outside of the hospital, emerging technologies are playing a key role in creating entirely new concepts of training that integrate mixed reality, AI and more. The use of mixed reality in healthcare to deliver training has significant benefits. Training surgeons and clinicians globally with the use of 3D models eliminates the need for cadavers, travel and large logistical programmes to deliver training quickly, safely and as close to reality as possible. We saw this happen during the pandemic, when many healthcare professionals came back to the frontlines to support the sector.  Using mixed reality delivered an immersive experience. It help trained these resources with speed, and bolstered the community when we all needed it the most.

Shifting perceptions

If the data and the technologies are there, why is adoption only now starting to pick up?

That, for me, is very much a mindset issue. Patient data and technology often make people nervous about change. On top of that, healthcare organisations are focussed on saving lives, so there is limited time available to implement new solutions.

To make the best of these technologies requires increased collaboration within the healthcare community. This can be achieved by reducing replication of datasets and increasing the use of healthcare data standards to learn from that data. For example, the healthcare industry globally shared datasets looking at analysis of the coronavirus, patterns, trends, vulnerabilities to learn from it and to help each other fight against it.

As an industry and ecosystem, I believe that we owe it to ourselves and to everybody else to understand that technology is not complex, and it doesn’t have to be complex. Sometimes perception makes it more complicated than it is. But what it ultimately does is help the industry make things easier, accurate and more efficient.

My organisation is planning to implement more technology. Where should we start?

In the spirit of making things less complex, my advice for starting on intelligent healthcare is asking yourself: why do I want to make this change? What will this change enable?

Transformation for the sake of transformation is never successful. There must be a driving force behind it. The best place to start is mapping where and how you want to act. For example, you might want to contribute to green healthcare and the sustainability agenda. Embracing cloud solutions that don’t rely on on-prem locations is a tangible way of doing this. Technology can help you achieve this. So that could be your starting point.

Then, you must decide how you’ll measure your success and carefully understand what the outcomes will be. My advice is to not try and do everything at once. There’s a lot to do and a lot to take on. Especially when your primary focus is to deliver the best healthcare and save lives. Be realistic in terms of the type of journey you want to go on and the time it will take.

People are key to success in change. Make sure that your teams are on-board with the journey too. If we don’t provide the right training and the right context to understand the workflows and the pathways around healthcare, then we’ll have missed a trick. Adopting a patient/employee-centric design approach is also something I’d recommend highly.

And then lastly, start small, be flexible and build it up from there. The reason behind many organisations’ success with digital transformation is making sure that each time they implemented something new, they went back to the table to discuss what’s working and what isn’t working, and how to do things differently for the next cycle.

Having that level of maturity and positive attitude towards digital transformation will be, by far, the best way to bring intelligence to healthcare.

Find out more

Engage patients in the digital age

Boosting healthcare delivery with cloud solutions

The transformation imperative in healthcare

About the author

Hema is Chief Architect/CTO for Healthcare across EMEA for Microsoft, Senior Executive Leader and Former Director of Government & Public Sector UKI for Google Cloud. With 27 Years’ experience in Technology, she is a technologist, evangelist and futurist with a specialism in Public Sector and Healthcare. Hema is passionate about using technology for good, to improve business outcomes and benefits whilst nurturing the environment and working towards sustainability goals. She is also an active supporter of Women in Technology, instrumental in many initiatives leading, enabling, supporting and furthering the Women in Tech Network

 Hema is well versed in the design, development, delivery and support of transformational change across the majority of industry sectors, including specialising in capabilities for multi-cloud, emerging technologies, software defined data centre, architecture and management as examples. 

The post Powering the healthcare sector with data, technology and intelligence appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.