A new report recommends that a digital system that acts like a ‘clinical satnav’ for doctors should become a commonplace tool within the NHS.
The report, commissioned by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, suggests that this ‘satnav’ could guide doctors in routine decisions to both improve efficiency and patient outcomes.
It argues that access to better-computerised advice could help save lives and tackle growing problems such as the over-prescription of antibiotics and the consequent spread of drug-resistant ‘superbugs’.
The tool could also guide clinicians in decisions, including which tests to order, the evaluation of their results, potential diagnoses, and advice on care and treatments.
The paper, titled ‘Building a Clinical Satnav for Practitioners and Patients’, also flags areas where this computable decision support could help clinicians to avoid errors, improve safety and enhance quality.
BCS, formerly known as the British Computer Society, also argues that computer-backed support for diagnoses and other clinical decisions should become a mainstream part of the NHS.
In order for this to happen, however, systems are required that are able to communicate with each other across the UK’s health systems with accurate and standardised clinical guidance in a digital, computable format.
Investment in technology “vital to the NHS”
Dr Philip Scott, BCS chair of Health and Care, said that investment was required to improve the tech infrastructure in the NHS and provide new ways of working.
He added that technology was “vital to the NHS” and that investment would allow computable knowledge to be used to its fullest potential.
He said that while computer-driven decision support did exist to a certain extent within healthcare, the sector needed to catch up with other fields.
The report also argued that having a connected system of computable knowledge in healthcare could massively reduce the time between new medical research being published and findings being adopted in practice.
A number of separate programmes by the likes of NICE, NHS England and NHS Scotland are already underway, and the report called for these programmes to accelerate and collaborate together.
The report also highlighted a number of challenges, including technical, cultural, institutional, financial and strategic factors, which would need to be overcome in order to both create the means and actually use joined-up computable knowledge in the healthcare setting.
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