For decades, the NHS’s approach to healthcare has been largely rooted in the old ethos of treating symptoms, rather than the person on an holistic level. Healthcare services in the UK still tend to carry out specific services, as opposed to taking on a more integrated approach that takes into account the wider determinants of health.
The result of this is a system at risk of broadening the gaps between aspects of health, in-turn creating silos that are effectively setting the industry back.
While siloes are naturally occurring as institutions become more specialised and focused, neglecting to acknowledge wider health factors (such as lifestyle, dietary habits, sleeping patterns, social disadvantages and disparities among ethnic groups) could be detrimental not only to patient care but also service and business success.
Therefore, in a system as ever changing and complex as the NHS, what can be done instead, from a business success perspective, alongside supporting peoples’ health and wellbeing?
Prevention is better than cure
Since the pandemic, the NHS has been faced with a significant backlog of appointments. Patients are increasingly subjected to booking a long stream of appointments to discuss their symptoms, which becomes hugely inconvenient both for the patients and their GPs.
Recently, NHS waiting times hit record highs, with 6.7 million people in England in July. This figure is even pushing some doctors and nurses to go on strike, to which Craig Mackinlay MP responded, “[This is] not a problem of money. It is a problem of management, of layers of bureaucracy, of not using the one scarce resource of people in the NHS.”
One way to remedy this would be to introduce more processes and solutions that effectively join up the dots between both clinical and social care to support the complex needs of individuals. The power of digital innovation has been overlooked in UK healthcare for decades, and with the pandemic ultimately condensing years’ worth of technological advancements into the space of a number of months, healthcare innovation is at an all-time high.
There are more apps now for individual health concerns than there have been in the years prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, not only in relation to the virus itself but in terms of wider health and wellbeing. Patients are now able to empower themselves with access to specialist, dedicated services from mental wellness to weight loss; diabetes management to smoking cessation, and many more.
While this is a step in the right direction, many of these digital innovations are still provided by private companies, meaning that there is no singular, holistic information, and, by extension, no holistic care.
The value of a holistic approach
Breaking down silos between services would enable more caregivers to understand how to better execute care and interact with the system as a whole. One way to address this would be to offer a single case management system that would provide users with holistic care all in one place, removing the need for multiple apps, which track and monitor separated aspects of health.
For instance, the root causes of overarching health challenges such as depression span wider than just one thing. Pressures at work, exam stress, home environment, and so on may all be components, and to be able to take in all of these potential contributing factors is important. Without knowledge or consideration of the broader context of health and wellbeing, encouraging behavioural change becomes difficult. Once this has been addressed, patient outcomes will be improved, and self-care will be more informed and encouraged.
Health innovations in 2022 and beyond
Digital solutions within the NHS are on the rise, along with the demand for more accessible, online platforms. While this is a positive thing, increased innovations are also at risk of creating even more siloes. Having access to adequate insight and information will enable healthcare to become more personal, effective, and efficient.
So many health innovations companies today are focused on the expertise of one aspect of health. They’re painting themselves into a corner. Individual, symptom-based solutions no longer effectively serve us. Embracing holistic digital health, such as single platforms that support diverse patient needs, will be even more valuable from a clinician perspective, and, from a business standpoint, will enable growth, investor attraction, and a better quality of service.
By John Dibb, Joint-CEO, Priority Digital Health
