UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid used his speech at London Tech Week on Tuesday to call for the "opportunities of digital transformation" to be spread across the whole of the country's National Health Service.
While he described the service as making "great progress" on digital innovation, he said one tenth of the state system was still operating on paper-based systems and 71 per cent of its social care arm has no access to patients' digital medicine records.
"Too much of the system doesn't currently have the basics in place, which frustrates patients and makes life harder for colleagues on the front line," he said.
Mr Javid's paean to technology's transformative powers was pegged on how crucial it has proved in the fight against coronavirus, which he said would have been "so much harder without the technological advances we've made in recent years".
He lauded digital video-calling platforms such as Zoom for allowing businesses to keep operating and friends and family to stay in touch. However, he said "nowhere has tech transformation proved its worth more than in the field of health care".
He paid tribute not only to frontline workers but to the coders and developers whose contributions can go unnoticed.
"We developed an online diagnosis that was able to carry out 750,000 online coronavirus assessments in just one day," he said.
"We used primary care data to securely create the world's largest analysis of coronavirus risk factors at incredible speed.
"And we created a seamless vaccination booking system that was visited 18 million times in a single week."
Mr Javid said he hoped the progress made during the pandemic under "incredible" strain would pave the way for a "long-awaited digital revolution".
He said the building blocks of this revolution would see cybersecurity bolstered, out-of-date technology replaced and the adoption of a "truly integrated system" where health service employees can access patient data regardless of what part of the system they are in.
Digital integration to transform patient care
Digital integration of services has been an albatross around the neck of a series of Mr Javid's predecessors in the Health Ministry but he suggested that by the end of September, 80 per cent of integrated care systems will have a shared record in place, up 65 per cent from six months ago.
The effect of digital integration was made manifest on Mr Javid's recent visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes where he said the time spent searching for patients' records had reduced from 15 minutes to about 30 seconds.
For care homes the increased efficiency would lead to an extra 10 hours of care work per patient, he said.
He predicted efficiency would only increase as the system adjusts to increased digitisation and said it was "no coincidence that the five countries at the top of the Bloomberg health system efficiency table are the ones that have embraced data and data driven technologies".
Bloomberg health system efficiency table - top five
1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Spain
4. Italy
5. South Korea
As further testament to digital efficiency, he highlighted the NHS app, which now has 16 million users, and online registrations for organ donations, which stand at about 1.5 million in the UK.
Contrasting health care to his previous domain of finance and industry, he flagged up the possibility of more jobs and the genesis of productive offshoots in the manner of mobile banking.
A chorus of criticism has been levelled at how face-to-face appointments with general practitioners and nurses are becoming increasingly rare. Mr Javid acknowledged the concerns but sought to accentuate the positive.
He said many patients discussing mental health appreciated the ability to do so in a familiar and comfortable environment.
He highlighted the diagnostic capabilities that health tech and AI can bring to the aid of an overstretched service. In May, The National revealed how AI played a vital role in the fight against coronavirus.
The examples Mr Javid provided were smartphone apps that can detect warning signs for chronic kidney disease, and a programme that can analyse speech patterns to detect common neurological and psychiatric diseases.
"I'm delighted that over a quarter of NHS trusts in England are deploying at least one solution that's been funded by AI, Health and Care awards," he said.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Company%C2%A0profile
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The five pillars of Islam
Abu Dhabi racecard
5pm: Maiden (Purebred Arabians); Dh80,000; 1,400m.
5.30pm: Maiden (PA); Dh80,00; 1,400m.
6pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (PA); Group 3; Dh500,000; 1,600m.
6.30pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (Thoroughbred); Listed; Dh380,000; 1,600m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners Handicap (PA); Dh70,000; 1,400m.
7.30pm: Handicap (PA); Dh80,000; 1,600m
RESULTS
2.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
2.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
3.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Inthar, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
3.45pm: Al Ain Stud Emirates Breeders Trophy – Conditions (PA) Dh50,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: MH Rahal, Richard Mullen, Elise Jeanne
4.25pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup – Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: JAP Aneed, Ray Dawson, Irfan Ellahi
4.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Edaraat, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
Tell Me Who I Am
Director: Ed Perkins
Stars: Alex and Marcus Lewis
Four stars
ENGLAND%20SQUAD
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Company%20profile
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Stage 3 results
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 4:42:33
2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:03
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana 0:01:30
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
5 Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:56
General Classification after Stage 3:
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 12:30:02
2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana 0:01:35
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5 Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Wilco Kelderman (NED) Team Sunweb) 0:02:06
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
