Hunt sells UK as global health tech hub

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt is selling the UK as a “global hub of health technology” at the Health Datapalooza conference in Washington today.

Hunt is speaking at the conference of policy makers and technology companies about opportunities for US companies in Britain.

NHS England staff including chief technology officer Alex Abbott, director for patients and information Tim Kelsey and chief data officer Geraint Lewis are also attending the conference.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Hunt said: “We are actively trying to create a series of conditions in the UK that mean that we are the global hub of health technology.

“We think that over the next three years Britain will become the most interesting country in the world when it comes to health technology.

“The shared data and the strategic control over the direction of the system that comes from having a taxpayer-funded system give us a very strong advantage.”

He added that the failure of the National Programme for IT in the NHS should not deter people from pursuing the opportunities for technology to transfer a health service.

Hunt described his approach to encouraging the adoption of technology in the NHS as “totally different” from the top-down style of the past.

“I’m not signing any big contracts from behind (my) desk; I am encouraging hospitals and clinical commissioning groups and GP practices to make their own investments in technology at the grassroots level,” he told the FT.

Hunt has set a target for a paperless NHS by 2018.

He said that meant that in the future, a patient could go anywhere in the system and give consent for health professionals to view their records, reducing the need to repeat their medical history over and over again.

He also reiterated the government’s commitment to opening up NHS data, arguing that initiatives such as the move to publish detailed information about the performance of ten surgical specialities would save thousands of lives.

The two-day event in Washington includes a break-out session titled ‘Open Health Data in the UK’s NHS’.

Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare Mark Davies is moderating the session and the speakers include Abbott, Kelsey and Lewis.

Also Dr Mo Dewji, from the Department of Health, Inderjit Singh from the NHS Technology Office and Kate Lillywhite.