Implementing scalable digital healthcare solutions in England: is the condition of society a factor?

ABSTRACT

The use of digital healthcare to complement, aid, or replace traditional healthcare has been debated as having the potential to empower patients to take responsibility in managing their conditions, streamline workloads of healthcare professionals, and be cost-effective for the National Health Service in England. Despite this, national programmes to implement digital health solutions have been problematic, and this has been debated from various perspectives. This paper aims to add to the debate from a perspective that considers whether daily discourses of society play a role in conditioning the public against scalable digital health solutions.

KEYWORDS:

• e-Health
• digital health solutions
• implementation
• society
• ICTs

Acknowledgements

I thank Professor Tony Avery, Dean and Head of School, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, for encouraging me to contribute my insights into this debate. These insights stem from various projects to which I have contributed, such as the NIHR commissioned research on the Electronic Prescription Service, part of the evaluation of the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) at the School of Medicine, Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham with colleagues from School of Pharmacy, University College London, and the Department of Management, London School of Economics; the EPSRC-funded project on Public Responses to Identity Technology and Services (IMPRINTS) with colleagues at the Department of Social Science, University of Loughborough; and my current work on the NIHR CLAHRC funded study on factors influencing adoption of technology-based self-management solutions in the NHS, with colleagues at Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, and the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Oxford at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

Notes on contributor

Dr Jasmine Harvey is a Research Fellow in the Oxford CLAHRC self-management team at Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. Jasmine is a social scientist, and specialises in the social shaping of technology (and innovations) in e-health and m-health. Jasmine is also an honorary (consultant) assistant professor at the School of Medicine, Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham. [email:[email protected]].