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Internet of Everything is the enabler of 24/7 healthcare

The characteristics of the UK population are changing; the number of people over the age of 65 in the UK is set to rise to 19 million by 2050, up 5.5 million from the current figures, writes Maria Hernandez, the Internet of Everything lead, UK & Ireland, at Cisco Systems. With an ageing population in the UK, the cost implications this is likely to have on healthcare system means better overall management needs to be put in place by government, industry professionals and patients.

The Internet of Everything (IoE) can, and is already beginning to have a major impact on healthcare as a whole; ultimately, the connecting of people, processes and data is revolutionising the way we live and look after our bodies. With Accident and Emergency (A&E) attendance alone rising by 55% between 2002 and 2012 placing even greater pressure on the healthcare system, the adoption of technologies such as wearables, sensor technologies and mobile platforms has never been more needed. They enable patients to not just monitor their own health and therefore reduce hospital admissions, but also ensure better quality of life for each individual.

Improving care by connecting the unconnected

Enhancing the productivity of the emergency services while on the road is now easier to achieve by connecting ambulances. Think of a road accident, an ambulance is called and dispatched, it arrives at the scene of the accident and medical sensors are applied onto the patient to take regular readings of heart rate, respiration and temperature. This new mobile platform allows for those readings to be processed in real time, alerting any changes and consequently enhancing the service that the emergency team can offer.

In addition, wearable video cameras could soon make their way into the emergency response toolkit. This means that paramedics are able to give en route, up-to-the second, information on a patient’s condition due to the visual data being sent via a wireless mesh and 4G mobile connections direct to the hospitals. As consequence, when the patient arrives at hospital, treatment will be more informed and effective due to the prior intelligence, enabling faster and better care.

The benefits of mobile technology can play a vital role within the hospital too. For example, the simple connectivity between patients and available wheelchairs will enable hospitals to know where their equipment and other non-IT assets are, ensuring efficiency is maximised. As patients’ recovery continues, wearable technology can be used in aftercare as well. Allowing healthcare professionals to track a patient’s health from their home through such technology, can crucially free hospital beds.

Self and data management

With hospital admissions increasing, more has to be done in order to track and manage how many beds are available and whether someone needs to be hospitalised.

The Airedale model, which enables patients to have a 24/7 access to a nurse or doctor via a secure video-link, to alerting pharmacies when a bottle of medication is nearing empty, is one of a few trials which have been run. By connecting patients with nurses and doctors via video link, Cisco technology allowed 1,000 patients across 33 West Yorkshire nursing and residential care homes access to a Telemedicine Hub, where face-to-face consultations were available 24 hours a day. This trial delivered tangible results, decreasing the hospital admissions by 45% and the use of A&E falling by almost 70%, compared to the preceding 12 months, and crucially provided a direct saving of £330,000. It has also provided greater flexibility for patients, enabling them to manage their own health conditions without having to step into an NHS practice or hospital.

With chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases being the fifth biggest killer in the UK and asthma as one of the most common long term conditions, the opportunities IoE can deliver for self-management is phenomenal. By collecting air quality and other environmental data across the city and sharing it with asthma sufferers, patients can make sure they manage their condition accordingly. In addition, by connecting asthma inhalers to the internet, a more regular insight into how frequently they are being used provides invaluable data that will alleviate pressure on healthcare services via early warnings and the avoidance of acute episodes.

However, the potential of IoE extends far beyond individual monitoring. Integrating the wider public health systems and providing smarter communication and data exchange between patients, doctors, pharmacies and hospitals, presents huge opportunities for better, more effective and more efficient treatment. The cloud is an essential infrastructure component to help achieve this.

The ever advancing computer powers have the ability to make the impossible, possible, steering us in the direction of both fully personalised medication and treatment as well as monitoring of overall health and need for hospitalisation.

The potential of IoE in the healthcare sector is huge. It won’t just benefit its patients massively; it can also help cut costs across the sector, and help support excellent patient care against a backdrop of ever-increasing demand. By embracing this technological innovation a new, smart and secure IT infrastructure can be built at the core of our healthcare system to ensure nurses and doctors can focus on what they do best: save lives.