INTRODUCTION
Front-line medicine is arguably under more pressure now than it has ever been. This is at least in part due to a population living longer than ever before with an increasing number of chronic diseases. The management of these conditions is increasingly occurring in the primary and community care setting. If we are to rise to this challenge and continue to provide an NHS true to its founding principles, we need to embrace new technology and the potential benefits it can offer our patients.
THE TECHNOLOGICAL HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION
Advances in technology are disrupting the world around us, and companies like Uber, Airbnb, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are utilising these innovations to change the way we live our lives. More and more of our patients want a healthcare system that is personalised and one in which they are empowered to take more control of their health. Developments in ‘omics’, data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digital/m-health, advanced technology, and social networking are heralding this personalised, empowered healthcare revolution. However, medical practice has been slow to adapt to this progress. The economist John Maynard Keynes perhaps helped illuminate the problem the medical profession faces when he said:
‘The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.’1
How can we escape from the practices that once served us well, but which have now been superseded by new, disruptive innovations? These advances are not only finding their way into the clinical setting, but are now in our homes and our pockets. Patients are already taking control, with more technology directly available to them to help monitor and manage their health …