Helping healthcare into the future
17th July 2020 |
As part of our changes to the delivery of Frontier Tech Investor, I plan to bring you weekly updates on the state of the markets, opportunities we’ve brought you and how it all fits together.
These will usually come to you on a Thursday.
This week was a disruption to that scheduling as I had to deal with a family emergency on Tuesday night that caused a bit of havoc. The good news is that thanks to the wonderful people that work in the NHS we’re on top of it, everyone’s now safe and okay and the worst is behind us.
This was a non-Covid-19 related emergency. But thanks to the shambles of how Covid-19 has been dealt with, it was actually part of the reason my family had to deal with this emergency in the first place.
The short of it was that a procedure was required that in normal circumstances would have been done. But because there’s been a directive to avoid as many procedures as possible it wasn’t done when it normally would have been.
And this led to the situation we found ourselves in on Tuesday night. To compound this, when the concerned person went off to the hospital we were prevented from going to the hospital with them. And this meant we had next to no idea what was actually happening at the hospital.
Now, if you’ve ever been in an emergency situation, the worst thing as a family member you can ever have to deal with is a lack of information or updates as to what’s going on. You’re left almost completely in the dark. And when you try to get information, you have to go from ward to ward to ward just to get the right people who then don’t really give you much information anyway.
Sitting at home blind to what was going on was hell. And then to add to the mix, when the hospital did call, or when I was able to reach the hospital on my own accord, the phone lines were scratchy, hard to understand, and on more than one occasion dropped out completely.
Now, as I say, the people that work in the NHS do an immense job – all the time. They’re not all perfect, and there are some who really are poor at what they’re supposed to do. But on the balance they’re great, and they save lives. And for that we should be grateful.
But in the last 48 hours I’ve also realised there’s a long way to go to get the necessary systems, processes and technologies in the NHS up to a level that is deserving of the modern world we live in.
For a start, I (we) shouldn’t have to deal with drop outs from a phone call that’s trying to deliver crucial information in a time of great stress. Also, why isn’t there a system that delivers real-time information to loved ones so that you don’t have to exist inside your own head with ‘what ifs’?
The money that is being printed to bail out bloated, taxpayer money sucking companies should never find its way to those who’ve abused the system before and will do so in the future. This is a failing of the kakistocracy we live in.
The good news is there’s money coming to the NHS and healthcare systems. But again you just get the feeling that money will be misused and not really improve the key, basic systems that it should be. Hopefully I’m wrong and it does lift the standards higher.
Healthcare is next to impossible to get perfect. But it should be the goal. And the NHS as it stands is a privileged system that looks after many, many more than it likely fails. But there’s plenty of ways it should also be improved. Plenty of ways the powers that be could and should improve it.
There are technologies coming that will improve British healthcare and hopefully take it up to the level that it deserves. A future healthcare system with real-time data and information. Where you can see what’s going on with loved ones whenever you need and without delay or uncertainty.
Hopefully that’s the system technologies like 5G help to deliver. A world with connected IoT devices that can be attached to a patient as soon as they enter a hospital can deliver information as needed to loved ones at home.
That’s the promise at least. And hopefully in healthcare it’s one of the industries that these new technologies like 5G can really help move into the future as they should.
It’s nice to have this episode behind us, and good to be back on deck at work.
I look forward to a full weekly update with more for you next week.
Until then,
Sam Volkering
Editor, Frontier Tech Investor
