UK's TPP launches high-tech AI initiative to improve global healthcare

At the International Conference on Image, Video Processing and Artificial Intelligence recently held in Shanghai - also known as SHAI 2018 - medical software company TPP unveiled its new AI initiative in an exclusive global launch.

"Our aim is to put our medical AI in the hands of every doctor and every patient, making looking after your health as easy and straightforward as checking your bank account," Frank Hester, TPP founder and CEO, said in his keynote speech at the SHAI 2018 conference.

The event, sponsored by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, ran from Wednesday to Friday. It was comprised of high profile presentations addressing AI theories and applications.

Hester spoke about how the technology will provide the world's first evidence-based clinical AI, pushing the boundaries of what is possible to save and improve lives internationally. "Our AI initiative ... will have a vital role to play in reducing the strain on stretched healthcare services globally," he noted.

Founded in 1997, TPP is a high-tech company dedicated to clinical software development, system integration and technical services.

Based on the electronic medical record, the company also carries out research and development, production, sales and after-sales service of healthcare information software.

As a leading company in the IT services industry in the United Kingdom, TPP is well known for its strong brand and trustworthy corporate reputation, with excellent products, customer-led development and healthcare experience.

TPP's AI products will enable personalized care planning for individuals and their families as well as identifying efficiencies in the wider healthcare system, Hester said.

AI in general has huge potential in healthcare, as Frank pointed out: "AI will predict where the next disease outbreak will come from and how to deal with it successfully, or which hospitals will struggle in the next few days.

"It will tell us in advance how an individual's health will change in the future, and which treatments will work best for each person. When combined with the availability of genomic information, the possibilities for AI in healthcare are hard to overstate."

Hester was invited to speak at the event in recognition of his lifelong work in the field of improving healthcare through technology.

A pioneer in the health technology industry for more than 20 years, Hester built TPP's technology on the ethos of "one patient, one record", and transformed the way healthcare was delivered across the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

Hester's innovative vision was nationally recognized by the NHS and the UK government. In 2015, he was named on the Queen's New Year's Honours List, awarded with the prestigious Order of the British Empire, for his services to healthcare.

In the UK, more than two-thirds of the population have an electronic record with TPP.

Clinicians throughout the country can access and refer to a patient's record whenever it is needed and update their patient's latest information in the same record.

Care providers always have the most accurate, up-to-date information, allowing them to deliver coordinated, safe and efficient care.

Moreover, when making a healthcare plan, doctors can put the patient's past and current health status into perspective by seeing their full medical history. This means they can reach a more accurate assessment faster and deliver a higher quality personalized service.

The benefits of this rich data will bring the next generation of technology to the world.

Using the electronic health records held on its database, with patient consent, TPP has built a big data platform.

This large-scale, high quality information is used for research, public health surveillance and analytics.

The availability of more data than ever before has enabled the company to develop national-scale solutions to alleviate the pressure on the healthcare system, including the challenges posed by a population living longer, and with more long-term conditions.

Always at the forefront of technology, Hester is looking toward machine learning and AI, and the company is now developing intelligent analytic tools that will be able to use and learn from medical data.

These will be applied to assist with the growing problems facing healthcare, such as the early detection of cancers and effective management of other diseases for individuals and whole populations.

Not only could this be used to help clinicians make timely diagnosis and health services to use their resources efficiently, AI will also be able to empower citizens to manage their own care through apps and wearable devices.

The early version of their AI shows indications that it will be able to aid doctors in diagnosing ovarian cancer, and they are initially hoping to replicate these results for three other common cancers.

TPP said it is working on these technologies with a global outlook, committed to making a real difference to citizens around the world to improve the healthcare they receive.

In the UK, the company has worked closely with the NHS for 20 years and has been an integral part of many government-led projects.

TPP is also working closely with government bodies in China and the Middle East to align with national and international health policies.

TPP has been working in China since 2013. Their strategic direction is aligned with the government's healthcare policies. This includes improving primary care services, as services in the community providing a first point of contact in the healthcare system reduces the burden on China's hospitals.

The UK brand is also working on providing integrated services, so healthcare settings in a community can provide person-centered, coordinated care to individuals and their family.

Over the past five years, TPP has worked closely with medical professionals in China to develop a solution that is tailored to the China market.

So far, TPP has been working on a number of projects across China, with its smart healthcare technology empowering clinicians and citizens in both rural and developed regions, according to the company.

"At TPP, we work hard to ensure our solutions are flexible and address real-life problems that people face right across the world," Hester said. "I hope that with my talented and dedicated team, we can provide the highest quality systems and innovative technology to meet the needs of Chinese citizens, whilst helping to meet the goals of Healthy China 2030."

As the country's first national-level medium-to long-term strategic plan for health and well-being, the Healthy China 2030 initiative, which was announced in 2016, forecasts that by 2020, the total scale of healthcare-related sectors in China will top 8 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion).

(China Daily 08/20/2018 page15)