What is Digital Health and why is it important to South Yorkshire?
Think you’re in the dark about digital health? You’ve likely interacted with it before without even realising it.
If you’ve ever used the NHS app or a wearable device that tracks metrics such as your heart rate, then you’re already a digital health user! Digital health could transform healthcare by creating new solutions that improve patient outcomes, boost healthcare delivery, and make healthcare services more accessible. As technology continues to advance, so will digital health, and it will become increasingly important to fully integrate it into the healthcare sector. But what exactly is digital health, and why is it so crucial for a region like South Yorkshire?
Understanding Digital Health
Digital health is a wide-ranging term that encompasses a broad range of technologies designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare. This includes areas such as telemedicine, mobile health apps, wearable devices, electronic health records (EHRs), and artificial intelligence (AI).
Using these technologies to their potential could address inequalities in healthcare, realise improved patient care, more efficient clinical processes, and ultimately improve health outcomes. However, it is important to recognise that digital health has the potential to worsen health inequalities and discriminate against some types of people, such as those who struggle with technology or cannot afford devices, data packages, or broadband.
Digital Health Tools: Key Elements
- Telemedicine: The use of electronic communication systems to administer healthcare remotely, allowing patients to consult with healthcare professionals from the comfort of their homes. Being able to eliminate and reduce the need for travel makes healthcare more accessible, especially for those in remote areas or for those that experience barriers when travelling. Email, texts, and automated phone calls can keep people informed about their appointments and results.
- Mobile Health Apps: These provide health-related services on smartphones and tablets. The services can range from fitness trackers and diet planners, to the NHS app and apps that book appointments with local GP surgeries, to apps that monitor chronic conditions and facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers.
- Wearable Devices: Gadgets like smartwatches and fitness bands that track health metrics such as heart rate, physical activity, and sleep patterns. These provide everyday data that could be used to support personal and medical decision-making and that can allow people to take charge of their own health management. For example, aiming to do at least 10,000 steps a day is likely to reduce risk of heart disease and many cancers.
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs): Digital versions of patients’ records will make health information more accessible across healthcare systems. NHS England is already working towards transferring the entire patient record into electronic form, although it is a considerable project. But when completed, and we can combine everyday data from devices with NHS data, we will be able to ensure continuity of care, enable earlier diagnoses, and it will lead to healthier lives while reducing NHS costs.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Medicine relies on obtaining information about a person and comparing the patterns in this data (such as their age, symptoms, medical history and investigation results) with previous patients to decide if they have a health problem and what type. The use of AI in healthcare might provide predictive analytics, personalised treatment plans, and other tools to help with this process. AI can analyse vast amounts of data incredibly quickly, providing insights that we might not spot that enhance patient care and streamline the healthcare process.
Why Digital Health is Important for South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire faces a range of healthcare challenges, including ageing health infrastructure and challenges in access to care. Life expectancy is below national averages and residents are also living in poorer health. Health inequality is a big issue, and the disparity will continue to grow unless we take action. Digital health if done correctly could offer solutions to address these challenges and improve the overall health and well-being of the community.
Digital health fosters innovation in the industrial, healthcare, and academic sectors. By developing these technologies, the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub is promoting healthcare innovation, increasing research funding, creating jobs, and improving the local economy. Moreover, innovative healthcare solutions developed in the region can be shared and implemented elsewhere, contributing to global health improvement.
Collaborations and partnerships: building a Digital Health Network across South Yorkshire
With the creation of the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub, the future of digital health in South Yorkshire looks promising. One of the key goals of the Hub is to build a robust network that connects people and organisations across the region, including in areas that have had fewer opportunities to participate in research such as Barnsley, Rotherham, and Doncaster. This network brings together a diverse range of stakeholders—including patients, healthcare professionals, community groups, and innovators—who might not typically work together. By fostering these connections, the Hub is creating a collaborative ecosystem that drives innovation and addresses the unique health challenges faced by the region.
Using the Digital Health Hub Innovation Pipeline we will select groundbreaking ideas that the Hub will support through to market that will realise real benefits to health in the South Yorkshire region, showing with real world applications how the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub is spearheading efforts to promote the adoption of digital health solutions across the region.
Integrating PPIE: The Heart of Our Approach
Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) is very important to the Hub. By involving patients and the public at every stage of the innovation process, the Hub ensures that digital health solutions are designed with the needs and preferences of the community in mind. This commitment to PPIE enhances the relevance and impact of the innovations developed and helps build trust and engagement with the wider community.
Community Engagement and Education
To maximise the benefits of digital health, it’s essential to engage and educate the community. The South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub is actively involved in outreach programs to raise awareness about digital health. Workshops, seminars, and online resources will be provided to help both healthcare professionals and the public stay informed about the latest developments in digital health.
A key goal of the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub is to create and curate a suite of training materials that will not only educate the community, but also prepare and train innovators to give them the best chance of securing funding and developing new technologies.
The future of digital health in South Yorkshire
With the continued support of its partners and the community, the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub is leading the way in digital health innovation. By bringing together the right partners, people, and ideas to tackle unmet needs, the Hub will support a pipeline of projects and products suitable for NHS use, particularly benefiting marginalised groups.
Digital health is not about promoting technology; it’s about working together to identify the problems in healthcare and considering whether technology can help address these. We are excited to work with our partners to advance digital health innovation in South Yorkshire and beyond.”
Professor Tim Chico, Director of SYDHH
South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub
For more information on how digital health is being implemented in South Yorkshire and how you can get involved, sign up to our newsletter or contact us directly. Together, we can create a healthier, more connected community.