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Survey shows NHS backing can help digital health providers overcome consumer scepticism, says expert


Digital health product providers that can secure the support of the NHS for their innovations will stand a better chance of surviving in a market where consumers remain sceptical of the role mobile technology can play in delivering health care, an expert has said.

A new YouGov survey commissioned by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, into attitudes to mobile health (m-health) revealed that most people (62%) were unconcerned about the privacy of their medical data, but of those that were 59% said their concerns would be eased if they were given the option to consent to the use of their data on each occasion it is proposed to be used.

The term 'm-health' broadly refers to the practice of using mobile IT to deliver services in the health sector. The applications vary widely, from engaging in patient records management through tablet devices, to recording patients' heart rate, glucose or blood oxygen levels remotely through applications available on smartphones, to providing medical interventions and diagnostics.

M-health forms part of a wider digital health movement which is being seen as way for patients to receive some aspects of health care services remotely, enabling advantages to be derived such as cutting waiting times in hospitals and at doctors' surgeries and enabling medical professionals to access more frequent data on patients with chronic illnesses.

However, according to the survey, just 31% of the public are currently convinced that m-health services can improve the NHS. A third said they would be willing to have their health monitored remotely. Just over half of the retirees surveyed (51%) said they would be resistant to being diagnosed via m-health technology.

Participants in the poll were also asked to state the extent to which they trust listed public and private health care providers. Confidence was strongest in the NHS with 63% trusting of the brand either a little or a lot. Technology and information law specialist Matthew Godfrey-Faussett of Pinsent Masons, who recently chaired a discussion on m-health issues with industry experts, said that businesses developing digital health products and services should look to work for NHS backing to stand the best chance of thriving in the market.

"In order to convert stand alone digital health products and services into viable and sustainable UK business propositions, it is clear from our survey that the support of the NHS will be a key prize," Godfrey-Faussett said. "However, the NHS will not be interested in gimmicks. With so little public awareness of the issues associated with digital health, the launch of new products designed to support the treatment of illness, rather than the monitoring of 'wellness', must be expected to trigger a robust data security and privacy debate. Without the support of the trusted NHS brand, the initial clutch of digital health businesses may struggle to gain customers in the glare of that debate."

"In order to allow digital health to succeed, the sector must be able to demonstrate an ability to generate revenue from either those who traditionally pay for our healthcare services (the NHS and the insurers) or the consumer. The survey results indicate that the UK public's enthusiasm for digital health would not currently sustain serious consumer driven revenues. Whilst attitudes will change, the challenge in the interim will be for UK digital health businesses to operate for long enough to allow that change to happen," he said.

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