1. Telecomms Tech World
m-health: empowering consumers
through self care & self monitoring
Bob Gann
Head of Business Development – International, NHS Direct
Programme Director – Widening Digital Participation, NHS England
November 2013

2. Connected technologies can meet today’s health
challenges
Global health
challenges
•Inadequate access
•Unsustainable costs
•Increasing burden of
chronic illness
•Increasing customer
expectations
Connected
technologies
•Mobile devices
•Cloud computing
•Decision support
•Social networks
•Big data
Impact on health
•Remotely delivered
care
•Chronic disease
management
•Peer-to-peer support
•Targeted wellness
•Personalised care

3. People now manage
bank accounts &
travel bookings
online – we can do
same for health
records &
appointment
bookings
Other industries
have cut costs &
improved customer
experience through
digital self-service –
we can provide
online consultation
& self management
Significant
consumer
demand for
connected
health
Millions of online
communities, reviews &
ratings – we can share
experience & insight
between clinicians &
patients
Businesses understand
their markets – we can
build & use big data to
target health
communications

4. Digital first
Opportunities to transform
healthcare through:
•Telephone & online triage
•Remote video consultations
•Digital notifications – appointment
reminders, test results
•Mobile enabled health staff
•Connected devices for telehealth

5. The urgent care crisis

6. NHS Direct – pioneering multi-channel healthcare
NHS Direct has
provided remotely
delivered health
services, via
telephone, web and
app, since 1998

7. Remotely delivered telehealth
Telehealth services enable
patients to use connected
devices to monitor their own
vital signs & communicate
these to monitoring centre
for review by clinician
Image from www.tunstall.co.uk

8. Mobile revolution puts health in hands of consumers
•
In future, transformation in health
will increasingly be led by
consumer devices
•
6.8bn mobile subscribers
worldwide
•
40,000 health apps - downloaded
40 million times a year
•
Wireless health market will reach
£60bn by 2018 – with mobile
health apps the biggest
opportunity
Wireless health market: global trends
Marketsandmarkets.com

9. Monitoring me: the quantified self
How’s
my heart
rate?
How
much
exercise
?
How am
I
sleeping
?
What’s
my
oxygen
intake?
Am I
eating
healthily
?
How’s
my
posture?
What’s
my
blood
sugar
level?
“The average person
looks at their mobile
phone 150 times a day
so it’s ideal for health
monitoring”
Dr Eric Topol

10. Apps for everything
Send pictures of skin
conditions for diagnosis
Monitor sleep patterns
Measure heart rate by
pointing at face
Save & share health
records
Test & map DNA
Increasing numbers of
Arabic health apps

11. Wearable M2M devices
Temporary tattoos
measure sweat lactate
levels for athletes
Digital pills text doctor to
say you’ve taken them
Wristbands monitor activity,
synchronising to mobile phone
Wearable, washable
baby monitors
7 out of 10
Americans
monitor their own
health
(Pew Research)
Under clothing sensors
transmit real-time
biometrics to monitoring
health professionals
By 2016 sales of
wearable health
devices will reach
100m a year
(ABI Research)

12. Connecting digital devices
• Digital devices provide data output and
connect in various ways.
• Some enable wearers to monitor their own
readings using a mobile phone and
website.
• Some allow data to be downloaded and
viewed by third parties such clinicians who
are watching trends that merit medical
intervention.
• Some devices encourage wearers to share
their fitness progress with work-out buddies
and friends via social media sites.

13. Regulating & recommending digital health tools
Doctors are starting to prescribe apps & digital
health devices from recommended catalogues
European Union & US
Food & Drug
Administration regard
some apps as medical
devices which need
regulation

14. Supporting connected health: locally & globally
Licensing digital
symptom checkers
to other countries
Providing
professional advice
& consultancy
Enabling digital
health innovation
locally in UK

15. Thank you
For more information contact:
Email: bob.gann@nhs.net
Twitter: @bob_gann
November 2013