Tag: UK NHS

New Advances in Coronavirus solutions. Such a Pity…

We look at the equal march of COVID-19 and solutions that describe themselves as being “the answer”, and ask;   Why has it taken this long for them to come to the fore… and is COVID-19 the excuse of choice, for both marketeers, and people who didn’t want to go to work anyway.

——-

I can’t say that we have received thousands, this is not a nationwide chart of  major instances – but  certainly in their twenties. In the time since mid January, when we have started to wake up and then be immersed in an epidemic of confusion as to where this is all going, I am beginning to regret turning on my Inbox in the morning, – in the same way as ~I have long since turned off my radio at 07.10 each morning – to see yet another announcement of a major Coronavirus breakthrough.

COVID-19 has become the marketeer paradise. It gets everyone’s attention. We are glued to it and them. And we want good news. What more is there to love?

And each announcement does indeed bring good news! I publish here just a few snippets of our latest ones;

DeeDee Rubenstein writes: ”

“One of the side effects of COVID-19 has been a mental health crisis in the United States. Isolation and uncertainty has created a sudden shift in our country that has never been experienced before. Last month the “Disaster Distress Helpline” at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration experienced a 891% increase in calls.

The sudden decline in mental health is an alarming indicator that telehealth for mental health should be implemented in a cost effective and accessible manner. Below are two companies that are addressing the new COVID-19 mental health crisis.”… etc…

And we have this from the MDClone company:

“Collaborate and compare insights with healthcare organizations worldwide to combat COVID-19.  MDClone has launched a fast-to-install platform to understand and manage COVID-19 efforts, dramatically increasing the ability to use data to improve quality and operations in a streamlined, efficient package.

With the MDClone Pandemic Response Package, healthcare organizations are able to leverage COVID-19 relevant data to understand performance and engage other like-minded systems, enabling the healthcare community to collaborate on new ideas, apply lessons learned from other organizations, and come together to better understand the virus.”

And Vani Edwardson of the Macadamian company sends us this Good News (he actually uses these words too) -story, about their Self-Screening mobile app, for COVID-19 health workers;

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for health care providers both in Long-Term Care and in hospital settings to have the ability to assess and monitor the health status of their front line to both mitigate risks and respond accordingly.

Screening is a primary line of defense in keeping COVID-19 out of our Long-Term Care and hospital settings, yet the screening process can be time-consuming. Be it on paper or on a web-based solution it adds an extra step to the start of the shift at a highly stressful time. Lining up for screening also creates challenges with respect to adherence to physical distancing, within an essential workforce.”

All of the above solutions have merit. And they  all deserve our attention.  But for COVID-19, they are probably already too late, even here in the UK where I am writing this, and when our nurses are struggling even to get hold of face masks let alone clever mobile apps. There is a distinct feeling of jumping on bandwagons or shutting doors after horses have long since gone.

And that is a pity, because the issues described above, are serious, and the solutions should be relevant for the future not just there present.

But equally, have we now already got used to being in lockdown, being away from our office, and if we are not  mentally ill, or we are not in the front line of  health,  -isn’t it all still quite a lot of fun working from home in the  morning, and playing with the kids in the afternoon?

Because we have now reached the tipping point.  If the number alas of people sadly passing away from Coronavirus at this time, is less or equal to, the number that would normally decease at this time – and this might already start to be the case – then just how much damage are we doing continuing this situation or developing solutions for a situation, that is now damaging our way of life in other ways more sinister than our original virus?

I can’t answer this. And perhaps  that was never the point. Because the marketing people have already succeeded in getting my attention – and that is what they wanted all along. Such a pity it will all end soon.

 

 

Are Healthcare people missing the point?

As the need for the provision of healthcare has moved from Hospitals to the Community, we have been looking at who “gets” that?

Actually not very many people, by that I mean, very few hospitals, and very few established vendors. In a survey that we are still conducting, of approx 100 key Hospitals in the UK NHS – the ordinary consumer (that’s you and me) with our smart data on our wrist, is light years ahead of knowing about their health situation, than the very places they go to when things look serious.

What is worse is that, not just established vendors seem to be clinging on to their market position with solutions that cannot possibly keep up with what the ordinary guy expects – but that newer start ups, who regularly look for funding – are being overtaken by Apps that are already in use for free. on our iPhone or Android device.

We have written about this before on our these Press pages, but our initial and interim assessment is that, whilst accepting that hospitals are routinely underfunded in the UK – their salvation will be the inclusion of primary care, sorting out issues before they ever get to the need for what hospitals currently do. so they become a one-stop shop. There are significant reductions in costs in this combination.

Approx 10% of the hospitals we deal with ourselves, get this notion – and either reach out to providers of community finance, or they include private paid-for health clinics, within their own walls. These tend to be the ones that regularly top the league tables of health excellence.

But what does not work – is doing nothing, because patients are now starting to walk with their feet away from these hallowed institutions anyway. We are very interested in hearing from those organisations who link ordinary Apps, with their healthcare services provision, and if we can, we will be pleased to publish their experiences.