| New medical technologies can bring many benefits to patients, carers and clinicians. They can improve the quality of life of patients through more efficient and effective treatments; enable patients to remain in their homes rather than being admitted to hospitals or care homes; make remote diagnosis and treatment possible; reduce treatment times; and enable clinicians to treat more patients more effectively.
There are limitations to the use of new technologies. They can be expensive, especially if not implemented correctly. Installing new technologies outside the clinical environment, for example in patients' homes, can create problems: patients can find it difficult to use the technology and the reduced human contact with practitioners might also be reflected in reduced contact with carers and kin; alternatively, it might increase the burden of responsibility on carers. However, handled properly these limitations should not be a bar to the wider use of the technologies.
The Department of Health has recognised that the potential benefits of new medical technologies are currently not being realised and that improvements are required. There are several reasons for the slow rate of progress. The NHS comprises a federation of 700 Trusts; inconsistent policies and practices in relation to the development of new technology, its application and purchasing policies create difficulties for suppliers and result in variations in the availability of technologies to patients. The use of different and incompatible makes of equipment leads to many problems, including the need for training in the use of each piece of equipment. The result is a drain on resources and the potential for mistakes. The inability to move money between Trusts' budgets can also result in a lack of integration.
To remedy the current situation the Department established the Healthcare Industries Task Force to improve co-operation between the Government and the healthcare industry. Its report produced a number of recommendations aiming to bring benefits for patients, service users, health and social care services and industry. The Government agreed to implement these recommendations.
Our concern is that they should be implemented fully and effectively. We have made a number of recommendations to build on those of the Task Force:
- an assessment should be undertaken when telecare systems are installed in the domiciliary environment to ensure that equipment is suitable to each individual's needs, with patients, health and social care workers, formal and informal carers, clinicians and technicians being involved in the assessment;
- there should be improved techniques for determining the cost-effectiveness of new technologies;
- nationally approved standards for the commissioning of new technologies should be developed to ensure inter-operability;
- greater effort should be made to strengthen the links between health and social services to ensure the roll out of these technologies in domestic and community settings is undertaken more effectively than at present;
- there should be a greater engagement of clinical champions for new technologies;
- the Government should address the problems for procurement caused by the inability to move money between budgets; and
- the Government should address the NHS preference for short-term savings as apposed to long-term advantages for patients.
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