To start my research into healthcare and where within the healthcare sector I might be able to design a product or service that could make a difference I decided to do some initial research into the biggest issues facing healthcare both locally and internationally.
I have included links to all the articles and information I found on this Miro Board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVNvrblts=/?share_link_id=522432001228
I found articles and statistics looking at the NHS here in the UK as well as around the globe and some clear trends came through as the biggest issues facing healthcare right now.
Internationally a major concern was waiting times for care with 46% of adults worldwide stating this was a major concern. Other issues included the cost of care, medical errors and staff shortages. A lot of these issues are systematic and can not be easily solved by one idea or solution. I will need to delve deeper into the causes of each problem to see if there is an area I can look to improve within the causes.
Looking more locally at the NHS a lot of the problems are very similar, although I did not see any mention of issues around medical errors. The NHS currently has a large backlog of people waiting for treatment and staff shortages are compounding this. I also found some information that I would like to follow up that staff workload is causing issues of stress and burnout leading to staff being off work and making the staff shortages worse.
Another point that I saw discussed within the UK and other developed nations such as the US is the aging population and the increase of people living with chronic health conditions. While the life expectancy in the UK has stagnated in recent years there is an increase in people living with serious medical conditions which require regular treatment and management.
Something that could possibly assist with a number of these issues is preventative healthcare where we use technology to keep an eye on our bodies and try to prevent illness from occuring in the first place and therefore reducing the pressure on healthcare services. This could also include technology that allows people to manage existing conditions independently without the need for as much input from health professionals.
With a number stories in the news another area I wanted to look at was healthcare issues for displaced persons. These are people who have been forced to leave their homes due to war, famine poverty or other issues. These people often face long and arduous journeys and are not always made welcome in the countries where they arrive.
The main issues I found in relation to displaced persons where the lack of healthcare provision on their journey, as well as the conditions on the journey leading to an increase in illness. There was particular concern around maternity care for displaced persons, with this often something that is needed urgently on arrival in a new country. Another issue was the prevalence of mental ill health among refugees either from their journey or the issues they have left behind.
Other issues can occur in displaced persons receiving care in somewhere like the UK can include language barriers, cultural issues (for example around the gender of a healthcare professional) and previous traumatic experiences. All of these potential issues would need to be considered in any idea surrounding helping to improve the healthcare of people how have been displaced, which is currently around 108.4 million people of which 40% are children.
A couple of ideas have entered my head when looking at the information around the health of displaced persons, the first could be a AI powered translator to assist with any language barriers for people as they access healthcare. This could even be expanded further with some information around cultural norms within the country the person you are dealing with is from. This would be designed for use within a healthcare setting in the UK when a person presents for treatment.
Another idea would be to create an app that would run-through a basic health check that could be carried out as soon as people are met when arriving in the country. This could be when they present to apply for asylum or even when they have been rescued from the sea. It could be used by trained paramedics or medical professionals but also staff of charities offering assistance (the Red Cross for example). It could even be prepared as part of a pack, which could contain a tablet with the app, a language translator and a wearable device (similar to a FitBit) for taking vital body statistics. This could then be used to triage individuals and ensure they receive the healthcare they need.
Another issue we hear about often in the news as well as from our own family and friends is issues in accessing A&E care when required. The most common complaints surrounding extremely long wait times to be seen and then if admitted to get a bed on a ward. In fact the government has a four-hour target for people attending A&E to be seen and either discharged, admitted for care or referred to another department, this target has been missed every month since June 2013.
I found a detailed report created by a Westminster think tank called Reform who took a look at a lot of the reasons often stated for issues within the A&E system such as lack of staff and people attending A&E who should have used other services such as their GP. A lot of the evidence they found contradicted these common views with staff numbers increasing and no evidence that people were attending A&E without good cause. They found that the main issues lay in the hospitals themselves with a lack of management and communication between different departments causing delays throughout the hospital which had a knock-on effect on people being able to be discharged. People not being discharged then affected the flow of people through the hospital system as people in A&E could not be admitted to beds without the previous patient being discharged.
Another major issue was the lack of community and social care available to people on leaving hospital, the inability to secure suitable care or a place in a residential home meant that people could not be discharged again causing a knock-on effect which impacted those being admitted in A&E.
Frustratingly, I did find other research that did state that staff shortages and people not using the correct service were to blame for the issues within A&E but this research did not include the number of statistics and data analysis as the Reform report, so I believe the Reform report will be the information I will stick with.
Another piece of information I found suggested that the creation of Emergency and Urgent Care hubs including GPs, Minor Injuries and A&E services could be a solution to some issues by removing the need for patients to decide which care was most suitable as this could be done via triage at the hub on arrival.