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How new ‘smart tech’ is revolutionising medical care

12:00am | & Health

New technology can be daunting and hard to understand, especially as we grow older and struggle to keep up with the pace of change.

Some ‘tech’ can have a negative impact if misused, such as people who become obsessed with ‘social media’ and are constantly staring at a screen while real life passes them by. But most new technology is put to positive uses and the great thing is, you don’t need to understand it to benefit from it.

Some of the best examples of this are found in medicine, with Britain’s NHS investing in new ‘smart technology’ to actively improve care and save lives. In some cases, the introduction of ‘new tech’ is revolutionary, including a new type of cancer treatment which ‘reprogrammes’ patients’ own immune cells. As the NHS celebrates its 70th year, its Chief Executive Simon Stevens outlined some of the innovative ways it is embracing technology to transform care:

  • A new “Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell” therapy ­(known as “CAR-T”) is a revolutionary way to attack cancers, even where conventional methods have failed. It works with the body’s own immune system, modifying and strengthening it to better and more effectively combat particular cancers. Already being described as a ‘game changer’ in cancer treatment, the system could be approved for widespread use this year.
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has trialled a new system which monitors hospital patients electronically and automatically uploads observations to their computerised patient records. As well as constantly ‘watching over’ patients, the system improves safety by reducing human error and cuts by half the time taken to manually input the information. This frees up nurses’ time to devote to direct patient care. Another NHS Trust in Liverpool has seen a 46% reduction in cardiac arrests since introducing the bedside ‘e-observation’ system, which alerts staff to the warning signs of an impending heart attack.
  • In 2014 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was among the first to switch its patient record system from traditional paper files to a fully computerised ‘Electronic Patient Record’ (EPR). It has brought a range of benefits for both patient safety and administrative efficiency. For example, when a patient is prescribed a new medicine the system automatically flags up if he or she could be allergic to it or suffer some adverse reaction due to other conditions or existing medication. This has not only halved the time it takes to prepare prescriptions for patients being discharged from hospital, but has saved around 2,500 inpatient bed days per year by reducing adverse medication reactions.
  • A new ‘alerts feature’ within the EPR ensures patients who could have sepsis are identified faster and prompts the actions and tests needed to diagnose the life-threatening condition. It has led to a 70% increase in the number of patients diagnosed with sepsis receiving antibiotics within the vital first hour after arriving at A&E, and a 50% increase among inpatients at the Trust’s hospitals.
  • A new NHS electronic referral service (e-RS) has been successfully trialled and will become mandatory for all NHS organisations from this October. It reduces patient waiting times when referred to hospital by their GP, increases patient choice and enables GPs to quickly get a consultant’s opinion on a patient’s condition. Crucially, the system also prevents referrals ‘falling through the net’. Forty-five NHS Trusts have already switched to the new e-RS system, with more following every week.

Speaking at a recent pharmaceutical industry conference, Simon Stevens said: “As we celebrate the 70th anniversary, the NHS is working harder than ever to save lives and improve care by embracing cutting edge technology like CAR-T therapy and spreading innovation across the whole health service.

“However we can’t do this alone and we need the help of manufacturers to ensure we can get these treatments to patients as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Preparations are under way to make CAR-T, one of the most innovative treatments that has ever been offered on the NHS available to patients, but manufacturers need to set fair and affordable prices so treatments can be made available to all who need them.”

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