Gallagher calls for digital upgrade for health system
Professor Martin Curley thinks about 2.5 years of quality life could be added to every citizen in Ireland every five years through better data.
Fianna Fail Senator Robbie Gallagher has called for the greater development of the digital technologies in the health system.
His request comes after it was disclosed that Ireland could add 2.5 years of quality life to everyone in Ireland every five years by embracing new digital technologies.
“The HSE Director of Digital Transformation and Open Innovation Martin Curley has said that the right investment could transform the health system to one of the best in the Northern Hemisphere. The investment involves embracing technologies that already exist to monitor patients in the home – freeing up hospital space for those who really need it. This transformation is already underway in the US, where it is now estimated that 40% of hospital admissions will come through home diagnoses," said Senator Gallagher.
“Technology currently being trialled actually gives better vital signs in your home than you would actually have in any of our acute hospitals. It can detect very early the onset of hyper-tension or prediabetic conditions and immediately intervene, for example. There are about 90,000 patients with heart failure conditions and about 10,000 are added per year. If the system could remote monitor these patients and keep them out of hospitals, then it frees up the hospitals for patients who are really sick,” added the local Senator.
Patients would be safer and their wellbeing would improve because they know they are being monitored all the time, he continued.
Professor Curley thinks that about 2.5 years of quality life could be added to every citizen in Ireland every five years through better data. He is calling for his department budget to be increased €5m to €35m this year and €350m next year. Eventually it would grow to €3.5bn but by then you would have created a digital health and wellness system that is all about keeping people well and improving their health and potentially reduced other relative costs.
“Right now, the HSE spends 0.024% of its annual budget on Digital Transformation and Open Innovation but Professor Curley says he only needs a tiny fraction of the overall to completely transform the system. We are currently spending €21bn on the healthcare system but a small fraction of that applied to digital solutions has the potential to completely transform the entire system,” says Senator Gallagher.
“I think this proposal has great merit, it also works with the fact that people much prefer to be in their own homes than in hospital. If the technology can do this then we should be using it to transform our health system".