Massive NHS overhaul could see robot surgeons and ‘patient passports’ rolled out nationwide

Keir Starmer (centre) flanked by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Chief paramedic of London ambulance service Pauline Cranmer during his visit to a NHS Healthcare Facility in East London today (Picture: Reuters)

The NHS needs to move out of the ‘analogue’ age and use tech to rebuild for the 21st century, the government has said.

Changes such as a ‘single patient record’ to share data across services, AI scanners, and robot surgeons will amount to a ‘1948 moment’ comparable to when the health service was first founded, it is hoped.

Patients could be able to access their medical history on their phone in a ‘patient passport’ meaning care could be joined up across providers.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched a major consultation today, asking for both staff and patients to give their thoughts about what needs to change, ahead of a ten-year plan which will be published next year.

People have already been adding their ideas, which include things like fines for missed appointments, an NHS-branded pharmaceutical company, medical insurance for tourists, central purchase of items to save money, and easier ways to return items such as crutches.

Some submitted suggestions were more tongue-in-cheek, such as: ‘Replace ambulance sirens with healthy eating advice’ and ‘Your income tax rate = your body fat percentage’.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that the ‘analogue NHS’ needs to shift to become a system which is ‘not just benefiting from but driving the revolution in data, life sciences and med tech’.

How could new tech change the NHS?

Under the current system, while individual NHS services store patient data on computers, this cannot easily be accessed by staff in other areas. 

One of the biggest opportunities and challenges is to centralise the data, meaning, for example, any NHS doctor or paramedic can easily see a patient’s medical history.

Additionally, a patient’s entire health information, test results and letters will be available in the NHS App, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Giving other examples of tech innovations, the government said examples might include video appointments; AI scanners that can identify disease more quickly and accurately; and more advanced robotics enabling ever more effective surgery’. 

Keir Starmer visiting a 999 control room today. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS is going through ‘objectively the worst crisis in its history’ (Picture: Getty)

Augmented reality (AR) could also be used more widely, having been used for the first time this year to deliver pain relief injections guided by ultrasound.

Doctor Arul James, clinical Lead in chronic pain medicine at George Eliot Hospital, pioneered the use of Apple Vision Pro headsets so that clinicians could view the ultrasound image at the same as giving the injection, rather than switch their focus back and forth.

What are the potential issues?

While centralising patient data would be more efficient, concerns have been raised about privacy and data protection, with the medical information stored confidential and potentially very sensitive.

Care minister Stephen Kinnock told LBC radio today that the plans would be ‘no different to online banking apps’ and ‘definitely more NatWest than it is Star Trek’.

He said new legislation would guarantee security protocols would be in place, but added: ‘In the end, if we don’t modernise the NHS, make it more efficient and productive, you can have the best data protection rules in the world, but you’re not going to have a health and care system that actually works.’

The government is looking at three key areas to ‘shift’ to improve the health service, which are use of tech, more focus on preventing sickness not just treating it, and moving more care from hospitals to communities. 

A spokesperson for patient privacy campaign group medConfidential said: ‘Patients should know how data about them is accessed and used, and their choices to opt out of such uses should be respected not removed.

‘Government may end up sacrificing NHS patients on the altar of economic growth.’

Setting out why changes are needed, Wes Streeting said: ‘The NHS is going through what is objectively the worst crisis in its history, whether it’s people struggling to get access to their GP, dialling 999 and an ambulance not arriving in time, turning up to A&E departments and waiting far too long, sometimes on trolleys in corridors, or going through the ordeal of knowing that you’re waiting for a diagnosis that could be the difference between life and death.

‘Worse still, receiving a prognosis that amounts to a death sentence that could have been avoided because the NHS didn’t reach you in time.

‘That is, I’m afraid, the daily reality in the NHS today.’

He added: ‘We feel really strongly that the best ideas aren’t going to come from politicians in Whitehall.

‘They’re going to come from staff working right across the country and, crucially, patients, because our experiences as patients are also really important to understanding what the future of the NHS needs to be and what it could be with the right ideas.’

You can share your views online until the start of next year.

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