Many Trusts and other care providers are exploring ways of capitalising on wireless technologies in order to deliver against the complex and daunting priorities they face, says Jon Lindberg, Intellect Healthcare Programme Manager

Wireless solutions are transforming every aspect of our daily routines. We are increasingly accustomed to interactive, on-the-go access to information and immediate communication through a variety of channels wherever we are and whenever we want. The trend, driven by an explosion in consumer adoption of digital technologies, means that care providers are having no option but to consider how best to harness the largely untapped potential of wireless.   

Achieving the vision
Andrew Lansley will only be able to deliver his radical programme of reform which he believes will liberate the NHS if digital technologies can provide patients, clinicians and commissioners with access to the right information at the right time to enable better more informed decision making. With this in mind the government has announced its intention to set an ‘NHS Information Revolution’ in motion, one that will pave the way for improved health outcomes, productivity gains and efficiency savings.   
   
Information has traditionally been used in the NHS to support diagnosis and manage ill health. But ensuring that patients and clinicians have access to information can help prevent ill health by promoting wellness, healthy lifestyles and understanding about particular conditions.
   
If the NHS is to survive the next decade and reinvent itself as a more sustainable entity its emphasis will increasingly need to be on preventive care and the dissemination of knowledge that raises awareness.
   
Information and technology will play crucial roles acting as vehicles for stimulating behavioural change allowing individuals to empower themselves to make informed choices about their own care.    

Sharing information
Wireless technology in particular can enable more efficient and effective collaboration in the clinical environment, allowing people to share important information in new and meaningful ways.  
   
With new applications supporting the convergence of e-mail, messaging, audio, teleconferencing and telephony on to single devices and platforms, both care professionals and their patients will have more control than ever before about when, where and how they are communicating.  
   
This will support the shift in care provision from expensive hospitals and clinics to the community and the home generating cash savings at the same time as transforming the patient experience.   

Best practice
Across the UK we’re seeing Trusts and other care providers exploring ways of capitalising on wireless technologies in order to deliver against the complex and daunting array of priorities they face. Some have seen significant success, but as is so often the way good news stories don’t tend to make the news. For this reason the NHS will need to identify new ways of promoting and sharing stories of success and best practice to demonstrate the benefits of wireless and mobile solutions, emphasising the productivity and financial gains that demonstrate a clear return on investment.  
   
The full benefits of Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), for example, can only be obtained with the introduction of wireless solutions that increase the flexibility and mobility of clinicians.  

Mobile and flexible working
Examples of mobile and flexible working in healthcare settings include the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwick NHS Trust, who gave software solutions on handheld computers to clinical staff who use these to record patient observations electronically, which enabled ‘real time’ patient monitoring.  
   
Similarly York Hospitals NHS Trust utilises its wireless network, mobile phones and EPRs to dramatically improve the patient emergency admission process.  
   
Southampton University Hospital Trust has extended its secure wireless network for offsite access which has improved patient care, increased efficiency and improved the reach of its services in remote geographic areas.  
   
St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust became a completely paper free hospital by delivering health records electronically, with information about patients accessed and entered directly onto the system with keyboards, digital pens and mobile devices.  
   
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust saves £220,000 a year by using digital pens from PaperIQ and BlackBerry devices that met the requirements of secure, easy to use mobile solutions for its midwives.  
   
Ultimately, technologies of this kind need to be developed in collaboration with the full range of care professionals as well as the involvement of patients. And these examples share something in common: the business cases behind them identified the benefits of supporting patient care more effectively, providing flexible service delivery and gaining the support of front line staff.  
   
As wireless technology gains traction in the health sector new developments and innovations will continue to feed propositions and make investment more attractive. This momentum will mean that smartphones, tablet computers and new ‘apps’ will continue to move clinicians closer to the patient at the same time tech savvy patients are becoming ever more sophisticated information consumers.  

The future
What does the future hold? Unfortunately, or some might say fortunately, none of us has a crystal ball but here’s a quick glimpse of what we might expect to see.
   
The University of Florida has developed a sensor that detects glucose in your breath and which can wirelessly relay this to healthcare professionals. The designer claims just one breath can provide a pH or glucose-concentration reading in less than five seconds.  
   
The Dutch are developing necklaces that take electrocardiogram readings and transmit the data to users’ phones which can then be forwarded to doctors.  
   
A California based company is pioneering ingestible chips that can monitor drug dosage and track the body’s response. This “digital medicine” can pass data to your smartphone via a high frequency signal to a patch that’s worn on or implanted in the body.

For more information
Web: www.intellectuk.org