Technology has transformed the world that we live in and how we behave in it; impacting the ways that we engage with others and with the services we use, altering our expectations and our experiences. We have all become ‘digital citizens’ and the impact is felt across all sectors – including healthcare. With the NHS under pressure – burdened by increased demand on limited resources, emerging needs and growing workloads – efficient solutions are needed. In an increasingly digitalised world, technology is being championed as the answer, as reflected in NHS England’s now launched 24-hour service for NHS patients, which offers GP consultations via videolink on smartphones. We have partnered with Practice Business to investigate how the digital patient is modifying care delivery processes and administration, what technology you are introducing and implementing at your practice and how – both positively and negatively – the digital patient is affecting your workload and that of your practice. http://practicebusiness.co.uk/the-digital-revolution-how-is-the-digital-patient-impacting-on-general-practice-processes/

1. GENERAL PRACTICE
and the
DIGITAL PATIENT
A report by...

2. What impact the digital patient is
having on paperwork workload?
48.8%
“Less”
33%
“No difference”
18.2%
“More”
CARE DELIVERY PROCESSES
What was interesting to see was the number of practices already
offering patients digital care delivery processes such as remote
consultations via video conferencing (15.9%), remote patient
monitoring and management (21.6%), personal health apps and
wearables (13.6%) and online information (75%). This suggests
a move towards empowering the patient – supporting continued
care outside of the consulting room – and reflects a sector-wide
movement towards patient-centred care.
When asked what digital processes they planned to introduce
in the coming months these four key tools were, again, the focus
with 25% saying that they were looking to introduce remote
consultations via video conferencing, 15.9% reporting remote
patient monitoring and management, 17% planning to use personal
health apps and wearables and 29.5% intending to add online
information for patients. A surprising 40.9% said they had no plans
to introduce digital processes.
IMPACT ON PRACTICE TEAMS
We asked, ‘How do you think that digital transformation impacts the
general workload of a practice?’ Interestingly, 37.5% of respondents
agreed that it has had a positive effect on the general workload
– telling us that it has lessened their workload. However, 36.4%
said that it has increased their workload. The remainder – 26.1% -
reported that they had seen no difference.
When read in conjunction with the reported impact on
paperwork workload – where nearly 50% of respondents said that
there was a reduction – it must be asked why technology meeting
a specific requirement is felt to result in efficiencies while, thinking
more generally, the benefits appear to be less evident.
Personalisation (37.5%), convenience (84.1%), choice (56.8%)
and control (51.1%) were revealed to be the key benefits of digital
technology in practices – for practice staff and patients alike.
However, with opportunities come challenges and, while both the
practice team and patients benefit from the introduction of these
new technologies, they do bring additional considerations.
When asked which aspects of practice processes now need to
be considered more carefully data protection, privacy and medico-
legal aspects of the patient record topped the list. “Medico-legal
aspects of the patient record need to be considered and complete,
accurate, up-to-date notes are needed to support this. Practices
need to be looking at solutions to ensure that they can easily and
quickly record things – using speech recognition is one effective
way of doing this,” Nuance advises.
THE FUTURE
What does the future hold? The NHS are advancing the digital
cause – with funding promised in the General Practice Forward
View – and so, too, are practices by making investments in the
technology that will help them to deliver more efficient services and
better health outcomes – two key steps towards lightening the load.
Our survey showed that technology is part of the plan for most
practices. Point of care testing, biometrics to correctly identify
patients and ensure data privacy and protection, chatbots/digital
assistants as well as AI to support GPs and other healthcare
providers were some of the great technologies which respondents
said they could imagine introducing over the coming years.
“This is an exciting area for us at Nuance as we do a lot of
research and development on AI and, indeed, speech recognition
is a sophisticated technology that also uses deep machine learning.
For us, it’s about investing in the future – looking at how we can
ensure that practices have the tools they need to care for their
patients,” Nuance says.
THE DIGITAL PATIENT
So, what of our digital patient for whom healthcare is evolving and
adapting? Of our respondents, 44.3% said that the emergence of
the digital patient will result in faster, more efficient services. 26.1%
said that they expect to see fewer missed appointments and 11.4%
believe that the digital patient will mean less paperwork.
“Technology is putting the patient at the centre of care by
removing the burden of administration so that practice teams can
focus on their patients,” Nuance says. Is this move to the digital a step
in the right direction? It is certainly being viewed as a key solution in a
healthcare system that is overwrought and which needs a new answer
that can cater to the needs of a growing population with more complex
healthcare needs many of whom, increasingly, want everything in the
palm of their hand – including their healthcare.
What are the key benefits of
the digital transformation?
convenience
84.1%
Personalisation
37.5%
control
51.1%
choice
56.8%
The health sector is undergoing a digital transformation; technology
is evolving and being adopted to cater to the needs of digitally savvy
patients. We at Practice Business teamed up with speech recognition
specialists Nuance to better understand how this digital health
revolution is impacting general practice
T
echnology has changed the way that we engage with
every aspect of our lives, including our health. People
are more interested in using digital tools to manage their
health and wellbeing and the NHS is responding to this
behaviour by expanding and enhancing its digital offering and
rolling out online healthcare information services – for example,
online appointment booking and access to their patient record in
addition to online consultations and the use of apps and health
monitoring devices.
Much of this patient-facing technology has been deployed
in general practice and community settings – but to what effect?
What have practices put in place in terms of technology to date
and what plans are in the pipeline to accommodate the needs and
expectations of the ‘digital patient’?
We linked up with Nuance to conduct a survey among our
readers looking at what technology has been introduced in their
practices and what effect it is having on processes and workload.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES
Where practice teams are under pressure, technology can save
time. Looking at more efficient ways of doing things is a sure way
of achieving this – for example using speech recognition solutions
can save GPs and practice teams time, reduce back-office admin
and costs and improve the patient experience – because GPs focus
on the patient rather than typing. “It can also free-up headspace for
the practice team to think about doing things differently and how to
deliver these new digital services and improve patient access and
outcomes,” says a Nuance spokesperson.
Our survey sought to find out what administration tools
practices actually have in place to help meet the needs of the
digital patient. We were not surprised to learn that nearly all were
offering the standard level of digital access for patients – including
online appointment booking, repeat prescriptions and access to
patient records.
But do these tools benefit the practice and practice staff?
Respondents confirmed that there is an upside to the digitisation
of administrative processes as a result of online patient access
to services and information. When asked what impact the digital
patient is having on paperwork workload, 48.8% said that it has
been reduced. However, 33% said that they had experienced no
difference and 18.2% told us that they had experienced an increase
in workload.
Healthcare is undergoing a
digital transformation – what’s the
impact on general practice?

3. We at Practice Business teamed up with speech recognition
specialists Nuance to better understand how this digital
health revolution is impacting general practice
The digital patient:
one who is at ease with digital
technology
Administration processes
Care delivery processes
What is currently being offered?
What will you use more of?
Video conferencing
Video conferencing
15.9%
25%
Remote patient monitoring
and management
Remote patient monitoring
and management
21.6%
15.9%
Personal health apps
and wearables
Personal health apps
and wearables
13.6%
17%
What does the future hold?
Impacts of the digital
transformation on the
practice team
What impact the digital patient is
having on paperwork workload?
48.8%
“Less”
Point of
care testing
36.4%
“Increased workload”
33%
“No difference”
37.5%
“Lessened workload”
18.2%
“More”
26.1%
“No change”
The digital impact
on general practice
What are the key benefits?
convenience
84.1%
Personalisation
37.5%
control
51.1%
choice
56.8%
Biometrics
Chatbots/digital
assistants & AI
Online information
Online information
NOTHING
75%
29.5%
40.9%
faster more
efficient services
44.3%
fewer missed
appointments
26.1%
less paperwork
11.4%

4. With thanks to...
www.nuance.com/en-gb/healthcare.html
practicebusiness.co.uk
info@intelligentmedia.co.uk
0203 794 8555