Wireless in healthcare: self-help 2.0

The UK National Health Service is currently buckling under greater demand than it seems to be able to cope with.

This was demonstrated yet again at the beginning of this year, when Prime Minister Theresa May took the unprecedented step of apologising to the thousands whose non-urgent operations were postponed until the end of January due to a post-festive hike in the demand for care. The press also recently reported that approximately 16,900 people over the Christmas week were required to wait in the back of ambulances before gaining admission to overcrowded A&E units.

This is a massively negative state of affairs for those relying on NHS healthcare for their wellbeing. At the same time, the increasing need for people to manage their own conditions without frequent access to a qualified practitioner provides an opportunity for the development of some extraordinary, patient-centred digital comms solutions.

As reported in recent issues of Land Mobile, this often takes the form of ‘monitoring’ technology, for instance to track the whereabouts of those suffering from dementia. Many new solutions also provide the means for both monitoring and self-treatment of ongoing conditions, both physical and emotional.