Intelligent Health.tech Issue 18 | Page 49

S P E C I A L I S T I N S I G H T

i

In the context of advancing technologies , what do you believe are the most significant challenges and opportunities currently facing the health technology industry ?
When it comes to challenges on a global level , supply chains have struggled to bring new technology from concept to product and then develop and deliver those products quickly . When it comes to technology itself , how quickly we can adapt to a fast-moving environment in healthcare is important .
Productivity is key for most healthcare these days ; the need to see more patients per day with the same resources . We know that it ’ s an opportunity and a challenge for us that populations are broadly , certainly in Western economies , living longer so you ’ ve got an exponential rise in the healthcare demands . As a healthcare technology provider , we are expected to deliver more for less in productivity and ease of use . We ’ ve got to make our systems easier and more instinctive to use .
Explain how Canon Medical ’ s ‘ Made For Life ’ philosophy influences the company ’ s approach to partnerships , patient care and the development of new technologies .
Our philosophy ‘ Made For Life ’ is that we ’ re making products that save lives . We aim to enrich all the lives that we touch with our partnerships , we always want to add more value than we take out and those partnerships can be with hospital institutions or educational institutions , like universities , because we value all frontier knowledge .
That ‘ Made For Life ’ philosophy is about the integrity of our decision-making , that we ’ re always putting as much into the pot as we ’ re taking out and at the end of it , we ’ re trying to create lifesaving and life-prolonging solutions that hit that mark .
Can you share a pivotal moment or experience in your career that significantly influenced your leadership style and approach to the healthcare technology sector ?
I was a healthcare professional for 10 years and I was once a customer of this company . I ’ ve been on the frontline with patients and know that when machines like CT scanners become unavailable , due to technical faults , which can happen that three in the morning , and there ’ s been a major trauma can be a difficult experience . The epicentre of that because a CT scan is a triage tool , patients journey into a hospital and are triaged to perhaps an operation , recovery or even discharge .
As I have triaged patients in that space , I have witnessed that diagnostics doesn ’ t work well all the time . In knowing what patients need and comprehending the stresses , pain points and challenges , as well as how important it is that technology works , I ’ ve worked to ensure high uptime and swift engineering support , reducing wait times for spare parts from days to hours .
I ’ ve always conveyed to the team that while you might not have a background in healthcare like mine , we ’ re all part of this journey together .
I ’ ve structured the company to be responsive , ensuring round-the-clock service availability . Our engineers are on call seven days a week , even on occasions like Father ’ s Day , and they ’ re prepared to work through the night if necessary . One of our strategic projects involves addressing machine issues remotely on the first attempt by logging in , regardless of whether the machine is 100 or 500 miles away , as it ’ s often a software problem . Our engineers , in conjunction with our call centre , promptly log into these machines when a customer reports an issue preventing their operation . We aim to troubleshoot and

FOR LIFE ’ PHILOSOPHY : TECHNOLOGY FOR

www . intelligenthealth . tech 49