Technology to speed up the health sector

The healthcare sector is in line for a radical shake-up over the next few years with the advent of targeted eHealth technologies that will soon become the norm in local hospitals throughout Europe.

Healthcare is perhaps one of the last sectors to buy into the information technology (IT) revolution. IT investments have, until now, perhaps not been top of the wish list of typically under-funded and under-staffed public sector hospitals.

This situation will not last for long, say experts. Faced with rising patient numbers and a loss of public funding (both the result of an ageing population), IT will soon become a necessity in most hospitals.

Crucially, increasing efficiency in hospitals, or doing more with less, could dramatically change the way hospitals work. Poor information can kill - receiving the right information at the right time through intelligent information systems and communication tools could reduce waiting times and improve productivity, narrowing the margin of human error.

"It means moving from scribbled notes and paperwork to networked software that accurately registers and quickly transmits patient records," says Ingo Juraske, HP vice-president and head of public sector, for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"If doctors can access health records instantaneously and make more informed decisions about diagnoses and treatment, it will save time, money and, most importantly, lives. We can help hospitals unleash the potential that information technology brings…so that they can improve patient care and use resources more efficiently."

But, at a time when health systems in countries such as the UK are cutting back on essential staff like midwives (a situation which is said to have led to an increase in costly caesarean births), investments will have to yield the promised improvements in service. The UK’s national health service is currently under fire for IT investments worth €9.5 billion that have failed to deliver value for money. The upgrade has, if anything, increased the administrative burden for hospitals, creating the need for new layers of management in an already complex and deeply troubled system.

The healthcare sector is in line for a radical shake-up over the next few years with the advent of targeted eHealth technologies that will soon become the norm in local hospitals throughout Europe.