Digital Healthcare Council outlines four principles for a sustainable industry
- 6 December 2019

The Digital Healthcare Council has outlined its four key design principles it believes are essential for a sustainable digital health industry.
When designing digital health solutions designers, providers and policy makers should consider people first; fair system rules; free and open information; and evidence-based practice, the council said.
It called on the government to address digital health āmore extensively and effectivelyā in order to tackle challenges access and unacceptable waiting times.
Graham Kendall, director of the council, said: āWe have set out four key areas that an incoming Government must get right if patients are going to fully benefit from digital health provision.
āThe principles encapsulate some profound challenges, for example, genuinely shaping provision to respond to patient choices is often far harder than limiting choice to options that are convenient for the status quo.
āDigital care provides ideal tools to address geographic inequalities, and while it will always be essential to have face-to-face care, it would be a travesty if we artificially limit services available to patients based on their postcodes.ā
The paper states āhugeā benefits can be expected for patients across the country, including those who struggle to access services, if the principles are employed correctly.
People first
Decisions should always be driven primarily from a patient perspective, responding to their needs and preferences, the DHC paper states.
Digital is āperfectly placedā to shift care away from traditional interventions towards more personal interventions, it added.
āIn a universal health system, it therefore follows that a choice of digital health solutions must be available to all, and that funding ļ¬ows must follow patientsā preferences without disadvantaging those who choose to consume their care solely ofļ¬ine.ā
Fair system rules
This principle covers two areas: Patient-centred market rules and regulation.
Those who make investment decision should keep patients in mind, the DHC said.
It added: āThe centre has a fundamental role in tackling these challenges: when faced with new digital opportunities, we need to shift from building processes to deļ¬ning patient-centred objectives.ā
Regulatory professional bodies, often designed for the āanalogue ageā, need to adapt to a āfaster pace of change than ever beforeā.
Traditional approaches will be challenged by profession, geography and devices, whereas digital can help alleviate these challenges, the paper states.
Free and open information
Data is often āinaccessible, locked in closed systems or with meaning that is lost because of a lack of standardised data structures and poor meta dataā, the paper adds.
The DHC called for the adoption of two key approaches to better inform the development of digital health solutions: Patient data belongs ļ¬rst and foremost toĀ the patient; procure open, interoperable solutions by default.
āTo make real progress, we recommend an incentive-based approach whereby healthcare providers are ļ¬nancially rewarded for achieving a small number of clear strategically chosen targets that rely on implementing interoperability.ā
Build the evidence base
All digital health solutions should be based on evidence, the council said.
āPotentially, every interaction can generate a depth of data that provides previously unimaginable insights into patient behaviour, the impact of environmental factors on health and the effectiveness of speciļ¬c interventions.ā
These insights should be used to inform development, it added.
Kendall said that progress has been made in many areas, adding: āWeāve seen clear moves from the NHS to ask less āhow do we, the centre, buildā and more āhow do we support the community to develop solutions to achieve our goals?ā.
āWe call on all the political parties to adopt and build on that approach because itās the best way to maximise developer resources available to the health service.
āDespite progress, there remain major challenges that will face the new Government. For example, for years, weāve talked about interoperability and opening up data but progress has been painfully slow. Thatās why weāve produced these principles which we hope will be used as a yardstick to guide and inform decision making.ā
1 Comments
Either I am thick or this paper is content free, except for blindingly obvious platitudes.
Comments are closed.