Innovation without clinical assurance stalls. But assurance without speed risks leaving patients and the primary care community behind. Balancing the two is how we scale technology to serve everyone equally.
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In the five months I’ve been chief executive at Enlivio Health – a company many will know as EMIS – I’ve spent a lot of time with customers from across the primary care community and our own expert clinicians.
Meeting with GPs, pharmacists and the wider caregiver community to hear what they think and feel about the NHS’s digital journey and 10-Year Plan has been invaluable. It has reaffirmed my core belief that equitable access to quality healthcare is something that we must achieve, and that Enlivio Health is uniquely positioned to meet this moment.
These conversations have also raised an interesting paradox. There’s a feeling that some of the digital goals we all share for the NHS have been hampered by innovation moving too slowly and, dare I say, too conservatively. Conversely, problems have been created when health tech is rushed without the right level of consideration and integration.
Artificial intelligence, for example – something I’ve been focused on for more than 30 years – has come up in many of these discussions.
Most agree that AI has the potential to transform the experience for patients, the primary care community and the NHS. But simply bolting new AI tools onto existing systems, or deploying it to “fix” single issues in an ecosystem which needs to be fully interoperable isn’t the answer.
Speed matters, but when the stakes are as high as they are in healthcare, so does getting it right.
Insight like this has been central to how we have reflected on our own business. It has prompted us to ask – how can we better meet the expectations of the primary care community, and support the NHS to deliver innovation safely, considerately and successfully?
We are deeply proud of what we have achieved over the last four decades as EMIS. We have helped the NHS power incredible things, not least the largest vaccination programme in history. A legacy which continues today as we support community pharmacies and GP practices with covid and flu NHS vaccinations.
We have supported historic preventative health campaigns, helping to identify thousands of people at risk during the pandemic. And we have played a role in the NHS’s battle against hepatitis C – with England now on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate the virus.
But with today’s tech disruption, it is now more important than ever that we help power a connected healthcare system – at pace.
To do that, we have challenged ourselves to listen more, move faster and innovate more boldly for GPs, pharmacies and the wider caregiver community.
This new era for us has been punctuated with a new name – Enlivio Health. But we know for our customers, for the NHS, and indeed for the millions of patients who benefit from our technology, the most exciting part isn’t a name change; it’s what we do next.
On the ground, we have already started to reveal the green shoots of change.
We are upgrading our platforms with modern, cloud-based and AI technologies to deliver higher levels of usability and experience. Unlocking the door to fast innovation and value, with minimal disruption to those on the frontline of primary care.
And there are more product announcements coming in the weeks ahead.
Preventive care, and supporting the left shift, is evident in the partnerships we are forming with GPs, pharmacists and all those integral to making neighbourhood care work, including a promising pilot to better support mothers most at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
And our work to support clinicians managing conditions such as atrial fibrillation also continues. This innovation has the potential to prevent 1,600 strokes a year.
While new innovation is highly interesting for a technologist, it’s the outcomes it helps create that really motivates me. Because in healthcare, innovation can be truly life-changing.
The success of the left shift hinges on clinical systems like ours working hard and reliably across the whole primary care community.
Because we are close to the everyday realities of care and have open, interoperable platforms to support ecosystem growth, we can help turn national ambition into progress people can feel. A responsibility we take seriously, and which is backed by considerable investment, energy and passion.
Now is the time for us all to think harder and move faster, so together, we unlock the future of healthcare.
