Following the Darzi report, the government has pledged to transition to a “digital NHS”. What specific reforms could be made to revitalise the NHS for the modern era?
As was covered earlier today by Chamber UK, this week’s report by Lord Darzi has identified critical problems in the National Health Service. The report highlighted crumbling productivity, identifying underinvestment as the cause.
In the aftermath of the report, the Prime Minister has announced the need for dramatic change along the lines set out in the report. Specifically, he has called to move “from an analogue to a digital NHS”, utilising new technologies to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare.
However, although the report gave general objectives, neither it or the government’s rhetoric have given specifics as to what aspects of government policy could be improved.
Later this month, Curia will be releasing two reports on potential innovations that could improve the effectiveness of NHS care.
Is Cancer Treatment in Crisis: How can a Digital NHS Help?
Cancer care was identified as one of the “three key areas that cause the most avoidable deaths”. The report referred to the fact that despite recent improvements, “cancer care still lags behind other countries”, with the UK having “substantially higher” cancer mortality rates than European nations.
The primary cause identified for this was the speed of treatment. The number of patients screened for cancer has fallen, whilst backlogs mean that patients often have to wait for months for treatment.
These problems don’t just affect the quality of care. Late diagnoses and delays in treatment cost money. Allowing cancer to progress require more intensive and expensive treatment in the long term. An internal NHS report in 2014 estimated that late cancer diagnoses cost the NHS £210 million, a figure that has likely increased as cancer cases rise.
Improving the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment would simultaneously improve the quality of healthcare, whilst reducing costs, something that greatly concerns the current government.
The report identified capital investment as being key to improving the various problems of the NHS. Specifically, the report identified investment in data technology, with the report stating that although “the evidence shows that health information technology improves care, the National Audit Office found that the NHS track record on digital transformation had been poor”.
Curia’s upcoming report will outline a framework using data analysis to improve cancer care.
More detailed data analysis could be used to identify those with a potential risk for cancer, therefore allowing for more efficient screening, in which cancer screening can be specifically targeted towards those most likely to suffer from cancer.
Once a patient has been diagnosed, data analytics can further improve cancer treatment.
Cancer is a highly complex condition, with a wide range of potential treatments. These tools can be highly valuable in determining the most effective form of treatment, improving the speed of treatment whilst resulting in a better outcome.
These measures would reduce costs by helping catch cancer patients early and determining the most effective care, whilst simultaneously improving survivability among patients.
The Interim Report on Cancer Pathways is available here.
Life Science Research and the support of Digital
Problems with research in the NHS have not received as much attention as other pressing issues. This is a mistake, according to the report.
Whilst NHS leaders acknowledge how vital life science research is, “partnerships with the life science sector for research too often fall into the category of ‘important but not urgent’”. With pressing and immediate issues, such as waiting lists and poor finances, investments that don’t provide instant benefit have received less investment.
The report found that partnerships with the life science sector has been declining for the last decade. In the medium to long-term, this disinvestment will cause the efficiency of healthcare to stagnate.
Curia’s report aims to address this problem. In partnership with the London School of Economics and with a diverse range of advisory experts, the new report will outline a strategy to restructure life science research to suit the specific demands of the NHS.
The solutions outlined in Curia’s report are aimed to be low to no cost, whilst offering significant savings in the long run.
As acknowledged by the Darzi report, life science is a vital component of the UK economy. Restoring the role of research in the NHS will not just improve its long-term viability, but fulfil one of the government’s central objectives: growth.
The Interim Report on Life Science is available here.
Final Thought
With the Prime Minister’s most recent speech, the government have indicated a willingness to invest in modernising the NHS. However, the government’s rhetoric has also underlined that the speed of modernisation will be limited by the much discussed “dire inheritance”.
Investment in innovation will undoubtedly save the NHS significant money in the long run. The proposals laid out in the report will be of no cost to the NHS.
As shown by the Darzi report’s damning condemnation of the last decade, an unwillingness to plan for the long term is unlikely to make the problem go away.