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Good day everybody and it’s nice to be becoming a member of you all in the present day.
Though sadly I can’t be with you in particular person, it’s sensible to see that there are such a lot of folks gathering face-to-face this afternoon after final yr’s fully digital occasion.
And simply as expertise stored London Tech Week going right now of adversity, it stored the entire world going too.
Earlier than I took on this job, I used to be working with Harvard College to take a look at how governments can study from this pandemic and be higher ready for future challenges.
And it was clear to me that our battle in opposition to this virus would’ve been a lot more durable with out the technological advances we’ve made in recent times.
Mates and households wouldn’t have been capable of keep related.
Many companies couldn’t have stored working.
And it might’ve been a lot more durable to assist our weak.
And nowhere has tech transformation proved its price greater than in well being and care.
All of us owe a lot not simply to our medical doctors, nurses and colleagues on the entrance line, but in addition the coders, builders and innovators who helped our NHS keep so sturdy.
We developed a web-based analysis service that was capable of perform 750,000 on-line coronavirus assessments in simply at some point.
We used main care information to securely create the world’s largest evaluation of coronavirus threat components, at unimaginable pace.
And we created a seamless vaccination reserving system, that was visited 80 million occasions in a single month.
Now we’ve seen what healthtech can do at a time when well being programs around the globe have been below unimaginable pressure, we should construct on the progress that we’ve all seen and ship this long-awaited digital revolution.
And in the present day, I’d prefer to share just a few areas that I see as crucial.
First, we have to get the fundamentals proper and be sure that the good advances we’ve seen are replicated throughout the entire of NHS and social care.
I’m not the primary Secretary of State to speak in regards to the significance of this agenda.
However I firmly consider that expertise – if it’s deployed in the appropriate method – generally is a nice leveller.
And so we have to be sure that the alternatives of digital transformation are unfold pretty, so that everybody can profit.
Regardless of the good progress of latest years, an excessive amount of of the system doesn’t presently have the fundamentals in place, which frustrates sufferers and makes life more durable for colleagues on the entrance line.
One in 10 NHS trusts are nonetheless largely working on paper-based programs.
And in social care, analysis exhibits 71% of the sector has no digital entry to data on the treatment of individuals of their care.
We have to stage up these digital inequalities and embark on the complete digitisation that’s so important to the long-term sustainability of well being and social care.
This implies shoring up our cyber safety functionality, changing expertise that’s outdated, and supporting the adoption of shared care data.
As a result of it’s solely by permitting colleagues to see sufferers’ data in a single place, no matter what a part of the system they use, that we will have a really built-in system for well being and social care.
88% of built-in care programs may have a shared document in place by the tip of this month – that’s up from 65% simply 6 months in the past.
And once I visited a hospital in Milton Keynes simply 2 months in the past, I noticed what affect this could make for colleagues on the entrance line.
How they will scale back the period of time it takes to entry a document from roughly quarter-hour to only 30 seconds.
In care properties, it means releasing over 10 hours of care employee time per care house every week.
Time that could possibly be spent on affected person care.
This is the reason digital transformation is crucial.
And thru our digital framework – What Good Appears Like – we’ve set clear requirements for digital maturity, and we’re giving frontline leaders the assist they should make the change the place they work.
And this work gained’t simply enhance the common interactions that all of us have with our well being and care system.
But it surely’ll additionally permit us to reap the benefits of the large advances in expertise that supply a lot potential.
I used to work in finance – an business that was remodeled by expertise – and led to the creation of latest industries, like cellular banking.
And in healthcare too, we’ve seen seismic change already, intensified by the pressures of the pandemic.
Over 300,000 folks at the moment are being supported in their very own house by way of using digital options for monitoring their long-term circumstances, like the heartbeat oximeters that permit sufferers measure their very own blood oxygen ranges at house.
A few of these adjustments have been made out of necessity, as a result of a virus that thrived on human contact.
However right here too, there’s so much that’s labored properly and that we will take ahead.
For instance, many younger folks instructed us they appreciated digital consultations for psychological well being, as they will full periods of their most popular location, they usually don’t must journey to appointments.
I do know that not everybody desires to have their GP appointments just about, or prepare their prescriptions by way of an app, and we’ll ensure that they will entry care in a method that works for them.
However some folks do.
Simply take a look at the unimaginable digital adoption we’ve seen by way of the course of the pandemic.
The NHS app, which helps you to view your NHS Covid Move, or ebook appointments – it’s now reached 16 million customers, in comparison with 4 million in Could.
And it’s price reflecting, given this week can be Organ Donation Week, that 1.5 million folks have now used the NHS app to handle their organ donation choice, with 265,000 of those registering for the primary time.
The advantages listed below are huge.
So we have to give folks alternative, and take the alternatives that these new applied sciences present.
It’s no coincidence that the 5 nations on the prime of the Bloomberg Well being System Effectivity desk are those which have embraced information and data-driven applied sciences probably the most.
And there’s so much to do, however we’re making nice progress.
Throughout that Milton Keynes go to, I additionally noticed their surgical robots and heard about how they’d grow to be the primary hospital in Europe to make use of them for main gynaecology surgical procedure.
And we’re not simply utilizing these applied sciences, however we’re additionally taking part in an lively function of their improvement.
Our AI Well being and Care Award is making £140 million obtainable over 3 years to again a few of the technological breakthroughs which have a lot promise.
The newest winners included an algorithm that might enhance the detection of lung most cancers, smartphone apps that may detect warning indicators for persistent kidney illness, and a programme that may analyse speech patterns to detect frequent neurological and psychiatric illnesses.
And I’m delighted that over 1 / 4 of NHS trusts and basis trusts in England are deploying a minimum of one answer that’s been funded by the AI Well being and Care Awards.
However I need to convey much more pioneers into the fold.
So we’re creating clear digital requirements to encourage innovation.
And we’re eradicating limitations for native leaders, by consolidating a number of funds for tech transformation into one single fund.
Each London Tech Week, we see simply how a lot tech expertise there’s on this nation.
And I need to ensure that we’re working with digital dynamos such as you all, to convey new healthcare applied sciences to market and to deploy them throughout the system.
As a result of this pandemic has taught us a lot about ourselves, about our well being system, and in regards to the alternatives that expertise can supply.
And as we preserve transferring on our path nearer to regular life, we mustn’t lose sight of the advances we’ve made and the enhancements that we will take ahead.
So, this London Tech Week, let’s all renew our dedication to utilizing the facility of expertise to make the entire world a safer and more healthy place.
Thanks very a lot and I hope that you just take pleasure in in the present day’s occasion.
