I’ve seen the future of healthcare

WHETHER you think they sound like must-haves or simply roll your eyes, you’d better start getting used to gadgets like these… because this is the not-too-distant future face of healthcare.

At CES, many of the major household electrical companies were showcasing telehealth units – similar to those already provided by the NHS to 1.8million patients in their own homes in the UK – which feature blood-pressure cuffs and other peripherals that allow a greater degree of self-management. The logical next step will be to harness the sensor technology seen in these trackers. We’re already used to such things with gadgets like FitBit and the Apple Watch. Connected to call centres via your mobile phone, they will flag up worrying changes with your GP or pharmacy who can adjust your prescriptions, send out advice and advise if and when you may need to seek medical help.

Algorithms will predict if you are going to become ill or, through monitoring activity, have an accident, so you can head off problems before they start. Data will also be collated for research, which raises the question of privacy – just who will have access to it?

The NHS in England spends 70 per cent of its £130billion on the 15million people suffering from a long-term condition such as diabetes or heart disease. They represent half of all GP appointments and 70 per cent of hospital inpatients.

Given the desperate need to make savings, it’s no surprise that the concept of remote monitoring is attractive to health chiefs. And if it keeps us out of surgery waiting rooms and A&E, it can only be a good thing.