The NHS, our future Prime Minister and technology - an opportunity?

In just over an hour, we will find out who will be the new prime minister. It’s widely known that the new PM has a difficult task ahead – inflation, cost of living, but perhaps the biggest challenge is that the alarm bells are ringing loud and clear in the NHS. The cost-of-living crisis has dominated the leadership contest, but talk to anyone in the NHS, and they will tell you they are worried what the coming months have in store.

Let’s be blunt - ?this summer has been devastating for the NHS, with many suggesting it’s been worse than any normal winter. Recently I read a BBC article which quotes Dr Adrian Boyle, of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. He said, “the demise has been so sharp that the service is struggling to perform even its central function - to deliver care safely and effectively". Stark reading.?

It is easy to see why he and others are worried. Wherever you look, the system has challenges and people are saying it’s broken. The waiting list for non-urgent treatment has exploded, with nearly one in eight people in England currently waiting for care. People who are seriously ill are facing long waits. It is taking three times as long as it should for ambulance crews to reach heart attack and stroke victims. Meanwhile, those who have suffered a cardiac arrest are waiting more than two minutes longer than they should - every minute's delay reduces the chances of survival by 10%.

But it is not only the ambulance service which is struggling. When patients come to A&E, long waits for a bed are becoming increasingly common. It is widely reported about the challenges that are facing GP’s and how many are leaving the profession. Social Care also has well reported challenges.

I recently presented to an internal audience and talked about the Choluteca bridge story. Have you heard of it? The Choluteca bridge is a 484 m. long bridge in Honduras in a region notorious for storms and hurricanes. The bridge, completed in 1998, was a modern marvel of engineering, designed to withstand powerful forces of nature. But as it turns out, in the same year that the bridge was commissioned for use, Honduras was hit by Hurricane Mitch, which caused considerable damage to the nation and its infrastructure.

Many other bridges were damaged, but the Choluteca bridge survived in near perfect condition. However, roads on either end of the bridge completely vanished, leaving no visible trace of their prior existence. More impressively, the Choluteca River (which is several hundred feet wide) had carved itself a new channel during the massive flooding caused by the hurricane. It no longer flowed beneath the bridge, which now spanned dry ground. The bridge quickly became known as “The Bridge to Nowhere."

The lesson for all of us is that often we focus on creating the best solution for a given problem. We forget that the problem itself might change. We focus on building the most sophisticated product or service without thinking that requirements could evolve as they have with the NHS over time.?Now let’s come back to the health system with this in mind.

There is no simple solution to fix this problem. The problems being seen have been years in the making. We all know this.

Firstly, the NHS is short of staff - one in 10 posts is currently vacant, the highest it has been since records began five years ago - and this limits the ability of the health service to expand services. Several newspapers such as the Guardian and the Independent reported this as being at a staggering new high.

Does the NHS need more money? Many suggest it does. But is there a different way?

I recently read the book, Side Effects where Prof Sir David Haslam recounts his experience of being treated for cancer as well as his thoughts on the health service, he makes the case for continuing with a universal system that means no matter how rich or poor you are, you are entitled to the same treatment. But he also says the time has come to rethink the NHS's purpose.

Certainly, if you read the transcripts of various speeches by the previous health secretary where he mentions leveraging technology and other organisations such as community pharmacy, it does make you think and wonder if we need to re-evaluate where the boundaries of the health system are.

Technology is prevalent in our everyday lives and while the NHS are doing amazing things with technology could it do more? Are they constrained by where the bridge is now situated, or could we use technology as a way of building an NHS that is built to adapt and built to prevent ill health? Could we leverage other partnerships better with those outside of the NHS?

The challenge facing the new PM is immense. And it is not just about the coming winter, it's about the future of the NHS and our health and wellbeing.