H E A L T H I N S I G H T S
To lighten pressures on healthcare organisations , improve efficiency and accelerate patient care , new technologies must be adopted within the workplace . Dr Kit Latham , Co-founder and CEO of Credentially , tells us how automation could be the key to saving this sector .
TO BEAT ITS BURNOUT CRISIS
Currently operating in a state of ‘ permacrisis ’, healthcare organisations and their staff are struggling under immense pressure to treat patients with increasingly complex needs . With budgets tighter than ever , and the impact of the pandemic continuing to impact service delivery , healthcare teams are burning out at a dangerous rate .
Today , healthcare staff are three times more likely than other sectors to report burnout . This is having a devastating impact on all aspects of healthcare : from the hospital floor to the administration office , laboratory , pharmacy and ambulance stations .
In the UK , chronic staff shortages mean that staff regularly work overtime or cancel planned leave to help out desperate colleagues . Yet , despite their tireless efforts , elective care waiting lists are predicted to exceed 10 million by March 2024 and up to 22,0000 appointments are cancelled every single day .
Salvation via technology ?
Clearly , today ’ s crisis is a threat to the long-term viability of the public healthcare model . As a doctor with experience working in the NHS , I ’ m well aware that the root causes are both complex and multiple , and there ’ s not one single solution that ‘ fixes ’ the high rates of burnout .
However , the last five years have seen a huge uptick in the rate of innovation in health tech . Huge efforts and investments have been directed towards building technologies designed specifically to streamline operations and reduce workloads for staff . These include automated patient communication software , automated HR platforms to accelerate hiring and onboarding , smart rota planning programmes and AI-powered diagnostic support tools .
Advances in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are cause for hope for the future of healthcare services . The solutions that are being developed , piloted and implemented have a pivotal role to play in re-balancing system demand with capacity in a sustainable way .
However , this cannot happen unless the technologies are deployed to their full potential . This is far from the case today . One factor limiting the pace and scale of tech adoption is a reluctance from some healthcare workforce members to engage with automation software , and a preference to stick with traditional , manual processes .
HEALTHCARE MUST OVERCOME ‘ AUTOMATION ANXIETY ’
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