Technology: 'the key to improving healthcare delivery'

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Andy Woollard, managing director of Surgery Line outlines how effective use of technology can help to improve the health of the nation, ahead of the Dods Healthcare Dialogue reception this afternoon.

The Dods Healthcare Dialogue aims to examine the role of technology in improving the nation's health. Why is this such an important issue to address?

When you think about the increasingly important role that technology plays in our everyday lives, it is no wonder that the NHS is looking to get the most out of it in a whole range of different settings.

People interact with technology all the time, through computers and phones, so if we can join them more effectively with the public services they are using, then the individual is likely to have an experience that is better and meets the needs of their own work or personal life.

Combine this with a severely constrained public spending environment and the potential for technologies to drive efficiencies and improve quality of experience and outcome is about as clear as it can be.

The NHS is fundamentally about the people who work in it delivering a great health service to individuals. It could be diagnosing a problem, delivering a treatment or just listening. If we can help to make aspects of these interactions more efficient and pleasant for patients and staff, then more time and effort can be devoted to the real task of delivering an excellent National Health Service.

How can the quality and efficiency of healthcare be improved by more intelligent use of technology?

Technology has so many applications to healthcare, in a range of clinical and non-clinical areas. Surgery Line is the leading provider of bespoke enhanced telephony solutions to the healthcare sector.

Our systems don't have a direct link to the clinical aspects of healthcare delivery, such as being able to monitor someone's blood pressure remotely, but are a fundamental part of the patient's interaction with, and experience of, the service.

Enhanced telephony solutions include a range of services to improve access to primary healthcare services. These include call queuing facilities; locally tailored information announcements such as those about seasonal flu; facilitating direct access to clinicians, test results or repeat prescriptions; and out-of-hours booking and cancellation services.

Fundamentally this is about the patient not being faced with an incessant engaged tone when they try to access their GP, and helping practice staff to deal efficiently with every call that comes in to the surgery.

This technology allows GPs and practice staff to focus their attention on the people in the surgery while dealing effectively with those calling in for appointments or other queries.

How important is the use of telephone services to the future of healthcare in the UK?

When we talk about the phone we almost take it for granted as a piece of technology. In fact, telephone-based healthcare interactions, or telephone/internet enabled technologies, have the potential to be some of the most transformative.

In its most simplistic form, Surgery Line is a technology which allows GP surgeries to deal effectively with the patients calling in about appointments or other queries. These experiences are often the first and most crucial in defining the user's experience of the service.

Would you rather get an engaged tone for two hours every morning when you try and call your local practice, or would you rather be able to know when your call will be answered or directed to a more appropriate person? It is fundamental that we get this right in the NHS.

Surgery Line can be completely modified to meet the needs of a surgery. The core elements can be enhanced to support surgeries in meeting a range of quality standards and efficiency measures – CQC and QIPP, for example.

Our research shows that surgeries using Surgery Line consistently score better on patient access measures in the Quality and Outcomes Framework, and perform better in patient satisfaction surveys.

We have probably all seen a busy GP surgery trying to cope with the demands of a regular weekday morning – the constantly ringing phones and people checking in for appointments. Surgery Line can help clinical and practice staff to cope with these demands so that those on the phone and in the surgery have a better experience of their interaction with the NHS.

Is the role of technology, in assisting with the provision of more effective healthcare, of benefit to health professionals as well as patients?

Absolutely. Taking it a level further, Surgery Line can include features that will link the telephone call of a patient to their medical records, so that the clinician can have immediate access to them when speaking to the patient, or features to record the conversation and attach it directly to the record.

These features limit the time spent bringing up the record or updating the record, so that more time is devoted to patient care. We saw recently in the Future Forum report that the NHS needs to make every consultation count. Surgery Line certainly can contribute to that.

In addition to delivering great care to their patients, GPs also have to contend with the demands of effectively running their own business and managing the needs of a very demanding 'customer' base.

If a technology solution can help them and the practice staff to manage the needs of their patient population, then it is as important to them as it is to the patient.

In the current economic climate, is there an argument that increased use of technology will lead to more cost-effective healthcare provision?

As I said previously the NHS, after a period of regular spending increases, is operating in an environment where savings need to be made in a whole range of areas.

The technology offers a way to maximise the time that clinical and non-clinical staff spend on delivering patient care and patient experience.

I don't think technology is an end in itself but it has a key role to play in supporting NHS staff to do their jobs more effectively.

Patients need to do their bit as well. It is astounding when I speak to GP surgeries around the country when they tell me how many appointments are either missed or cancelled very late in the day. The same is true of the amount wasted on repeat prescriptions. We all need to be aware of the need to waste less.

There may be ways to help with this – text alerts or online booking and cancellations – but I think we too often take for granted what we have.

In what ways is innovative use of technology being used across the country to provide better quality healthcare?

Surgery Line is the largest provider of enhanced telephony solutions to primary care in the United Kingdom, supporting approximately 1,500 surgeries to improve their telephony.

We help each surgery we work with to meet the needs of their specific populations. These differ greatly depending on where you are in the country, and we ensure our GP customers get the solution which works best for them.

I have already outlined many of the benefits of the technology to patient experience and service quality, but Surgery Line is always looking to improve things more for surgeries.

Since its inception in 2004 the company has actually invested over £27m back into the Health Service to fund products that improve patient access and improve practice safety. These include features such as check-in screens, which are now more and more a feature of primary care.

Are the government, and parliamentarians more broadly, sufficiently aware of the benefits of technology to healthcare provision? What more can be done to promote the benefits?

The government, and Westminster more broadly, are aware of the benefits that technologies can bring to the operational delivery of healthcare. However, I do think it important for them to understand that it is not just the 'bells and whistles' stuff that plays a role, but relatively simple things like good telephone systems.

To their credit, Department of Health ministers and officials recognise the benefits that enhanced telephony services provide to patients and GP surgeries.

It is absolutely right that GPs should have the freedom and responsibility to improve access arrangements for their patients. This is because these systems provide a whole host of additional services that improve patients' access to care.

Parliamentarians should support these principles locally in their constituencies, as it is the practice itself which best understands their own needs and those of their patients.