A new guide for digital health innovators launched today by Boehringer Ingelheim provides a comprehensive assessment of the English health system. It pools key stakeholder insights and signposts to further information for entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to the adoption of new technologies. The ‘Innovator’s Guide to the NHS’ aims to help build a sustainable healthcare fit for the future, as set out in the government’s Life Science Industrial Strategy.
The guide features contributions from Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and aims to optimise opportunities for digital health innovators and help them plot a clear pathway for new technologies to improve services and reach more patients.
Guy Boersma, Managing Director, Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network, said:
“The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic highlights the critical role of digital technology in driving the transformation of health and care services – enabling professionals to stay connected with patients, supporting online services and giving people greater control over their own care.
“This is exactly why AHSNs were established, and working in partnership we are making significant inroads into supporting the spread of transformative technologies: for example over the past six months we have supported the national rollout of electronic repeat dispensing and access to video and online consultations in almost every GP practice.
“However, the health and care system is complex to navigate and it is useful for innovators to have the advice, support and signposting they need, so we can match proven solutions to health challenges as quickly as possible. With this in mind, we welcome the Innovator’s Guide and the knowledge it shares along with effective approaches and best practice within digital healthcare.”
The ‘Innovator’s Guide to the NHS: Navigating the barriers to digital health‘, provides an overview of the digital landscape, providing an outline of the regulatory, access and reimbursement environments facing digital entrepreneurs today. Integrating digital in healthcare requires not only a technological, but also cultural transformation, with the guide highlighting the need to overcome the fragmentation between local and national access and reimbursement and the challenge of digitally upskilling a huge workforce.
Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, Chief Executive and Founder, Patients Know Best, said:
“This Innovator’s Guide helps innovators to navigate the complexities of the NHS. Partnership between industry and the NHS is the enabler of health and care innovation. Now more than ever, the silos that have divided us for decades must come down to ensure patients and professionals get the best of what this partnership has to offer. COVID-19 has demonstrated that by working collaboratively, we can provide world-class health and care for generations to come.”
