Telehealth Innovation ‘Could Prevent 20,000 Deaths A Year’

Some 20,000 deaths each year could be prevented through greater adoption of telemedicine and technology, helping save the NHS billions of pounds.

This is the finding of a new report carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which explained that although the UK does have a strong track record where innovation is concerned, it finds it hard to keep up on an international level when it comes to delivering quick and fair access to new technologies.

If the UK were able to match the performance of its international peers, thousands of avoidable deaths could be saved each and every year, with the publication suggesting that the health service isn’t currently using the practices available to it in the most effective way.

The report went on to stress that investment in the NHS through the management of health, technology and science will be pivotal to the UK’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis, with the likes of cancer and cardiovascular disease affected significantly by falls in referrals and appointments.

It went on to say: “A key element of that will be learning from Covid-19. During the crisis, we adopted and spread some innovations at often unheard of pace. This includes innovations that we’ve been looking to implement for years, including integrated data, digital triage and telehealth.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock recently revealed the government’s intentions to invest in digitising the NHS, saying that a model of excellence would become part of the inspection regime of the Care Quality Commission, making sure that NHS providers are assessed on digital solutions.

CIMAR is as the forefront of innovation in medical image management. For advice on cloud based medical imaging, get in touch with us today.