‘Why tomorrow’s patient needs a digital NHS’

Dr Robert Lloyd @PonderingEM is our MC – he’s talking of the front line challenges in the NHS #DHLcollaborate pic.twitter.com/7cCmubkm82

— Keith Grimes (@keithgrimes) February 22, 2017

On February 22, I had the honour of compèring an event that brought together NHS leaders, senior clinicians and digital entrepreneurs – #DHLcollaborate.

It was the one-year summit of DigitalHealth.London, an organisation (funded in large part by NHS England) designed to accelerate the uptake of digital technology in the NHS.

The event sizzled with excitement and ambition. Conference delegates were talking about the future of the NHS in positive, expansive terms with an up-beat chirpiness that starkly contrasts the doom-and-gloom-ridden water cooler discussions currently reigning supreme across UK hospitals. The air of possibility and optimism was utterly infectious. I had a great time.

I am a now a fully-fledged digital health believer, and adoption of new technologies discussed at the event can’t come soon enough in my opinion. Interventional virtual reality? Artificial intelligence-augmented clinical decision-making? Healthcare provision to every human being on Earth via smartphones? Yes please.

I met some great people, including the inspirational Molly Watt (one of the most accomplished public speakers I’ve heard; if you haven’t heard her story, check out her website – phenomenal stuff), director of digital experience at NHS England Juliet Bauer, and the amazing Dr. Keith Grimes – a GP from Eastbourne and digital health evangelist, whose work I have admired for a while now. He gave a typically superb talk on the application of virtual reality in medicine, and has since written an insightful blog post reflecting on the artificial intelligence panel discussion. Watch this space for a future collaboration between Keith and I.

DigitalHealth.London have put together a neat full write-up, and produced a couple of beautifully shot videos of the summit, which I happen to feature in! Here they are:

Needless to say, you can count on some future blog posts exploring digital transformation in healthcare!

Thank you DigitalHealth.London (in particular James Somauroo, Yinka Makinde, Rebekah Tailor, and Hannah Harniess) for inviting me to be involved in your fantastic event.

It’s a great time to be a doctor.

Rob
@PonderingEM