Leading UK tech company to contribute to revolutionizing healthcare

John Connolly, clinic director at medical software company TPP, shares his opinions on opportunities in the healthcare sector.

Healthcare delivery in the 21st century is changing rapidly around the globe, with many countries increasingly adapting to the use of innovative high-tech solutions.

Technology has become a part of everyday life in many other sectors - across banking, travel and insurance for example - and now the healthcare sector is starting to catch up.

During the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, the Party shared with the world its vision for improved healthcare for all its 1.3 billion citizens.

As China prepares to embark on its own major transformation project for healthcare, it is poised to benefit from the adoption of solutions developed elsewhere, including in the United Kingdom.

The UK and China have a long history of trade relations, going back hundreds of years.

This week, as UK Prime Minister Theresa May visits China to encourage new links and trade between the two nations, there is an opportunity to promote the implementation of tried and tested technology right across China.

TPP, a leading supplier of clinical technology for the National Health Service in the UK, has more than 20 years of experience in designing and developing software for healthcare.

Our CEO, Frank Hester, started TPP with the vision of connecting care and revolutionizing the way the NHS shared health information. We intend to use our market leading technology to do the same in China and help the government continue to reform healthcare for its citizens.

The company is actively involved in dialogue on improved healthcare for all and is working with partners in China to make further progress. I believe the 19th CPC National Congress celebrated the advancements that have already been made to reduce poverty: improvements in employment and housing, enhanced education and the development of a sustainable social welfare system.

This will prioritize the needs of rural elderly people, women and children, and vulnerable groups including those with disabilities.

In my understanding, the congress also promoted the Healthy China Initiative, which aims to improve the delivery of high-quality healthcare by ensuring that services are efficient, comprehensive, integrated and are available to all citizens regardless of geographic location or economic status.

These reforms will focus on strengthening primary and community-based care, so that citizens receive care closer to home.

I believe the Chinese government will also prioritize preventive care to reduce the burden of preventable illness and premature mortality. Citizens will be assisted to improve their lifestyles, understand their long-term conditions and benefit from disease control measures.

This is undoubtedly a strong, positive vision for the reform of healthcare in China.

Implementation of the vision will certainly be challenging. These same difficulties are well documented in the UK's NHS, where a perfect storm of funding constraints, rising costs, an ageing population and an epidemic of lifestyle - related disease are disrupting the stability of the system.

Nevertheless the NHS, funded through general taxation which is available to all and free at the point of use, was recently judged by the Commonwealth Fund to be the best, the safest, and the most affordable system of healthcare delivery out of 11 countries.

This is not the first accolade the NHS has received and it remains a healthcare model that other countries strive to emulate, despite its current difficulties.

For the NHS, a big part of the answer lies in the development and deployment of innovative technology solutions. For many decades, commercial suppliers have helped to redesign work practices across the NHS, which has significantly increased both the productivity and the quality of service delivery.

Enhancing the experience of patients and citizens who receive care is also a crucial component of change.

The best technology solutions in the UK are underpinned by the concept of a single electronic record for each citizen with real-time contributions from all of their carers. This builds, over time, into a reliable and complete, longitudinal record available wherever it is needed.

Electronic data which is captured at the point of care into a structured format also ensures that data can be analyzed and exploited to standardize quality, promote the uptake of evidence-based interventions, and reduce the risk of errors. This technology facilitates the vision of doctors and nurses being able to deliver truly holistic care for all patients in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Technology like that developed by TPP means that citizens no longer have to remember and repeat their medical history. It means they are no longer managed by clinical teams who are unaware of what happened to them in another part of the service - and are no longer given advice which may be contradictory.

More importantly, citizens feel involved in their care and in control of their own welfare.

As well as storing clinical data securely and accurately, the software solutions include decision support functions so that, across all healthcare organizations, clinical teams are prompted to make robust assessments and offer precise and appropriate management in every scenario.

Citizens are also given access to a "patient portal" so they can use their smart devices to access the same system and interact with carers, view their personal information and learn more about their illnesses and their care plans.

TPP's technology has helped the NHS deliver truly integrated care that is the envy of much of the world.

Over the last four years, TPP has collaborated with partners in China who share its vision of technology-led change and service improvement.

We have met many doctors and nurses who are enthusiastic about moving on from existing systems, originally designed just for insurance claims and monitoring performance.

TPP has two provincial projects underway and an exciting venture in Hainan province, the agreement for which is being signed this week. TPP is confident that healthcare can be transformed through a mutual partnership between our two countries.

Early deployments have demonstrated that our technology, which has been transforming care in the UK for years, can be adapted and made suitable for front-line healthcare teams in China, including for highly skilled practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.

Our experience has highlighted that in China there is excitement and a visible energy for improving the efficiency and the quality of healthcare services and a willingness to change traditional working practices to adopt new technology.

(China Daily 02/02/2018 page17)