Digital innovation is the driver of a fast-evolving revolution in care
CLIMATE change isn't just harming the planet: it's damaging our bodies too. Pollutants and emissions in the air, microfibres in our clothes, plastic beads in our oceans – all these are well known and documented threats to our health and our futures.
However, we are now fighting back. Determined efforts are being made to address these high-profile, high-concern examples of how we are scarring and poisoning our global environment.
Alongside this, though, we are seeing new thinking in challenging long-established patterns and procedures in healthcare, many of which are now outdated, inefficient and hindering common efforts to combat the climate emergency.
One Scottish organisation is acting as a leader in this exciting area. The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) is part of the country's network of seven pioneering Innovation Centres, all of them working to bring business, academia, economic development agencies and the public sector together in order to drive change.
By creating collaborative links and so stimulating excellence and advances in technology, the centres aim to keep Scotland at the forefront of innovation, including in the critical area of climate change.
DHI will be hosting a session at the one-day online environmental conference on November 3.
Professor George Crooks, who is the CEO of DHI, says his organisation is driven by the need to address societal challenges across Scotland, examining how to use digital tools and services to deliver safe, effective and sustainable healthcare services that are fit for the future.
It also aims to create economic benefit for Scotland by supporting businesses in developing innovative products that can be deployed in our NHS and then sold globally. Another of its functions is to entice global leaders in digital healthcare to invest here.
How, though, does this have an impact in the battle against climate change? The success of DHI, he explains, is related to how it engages with and empowers citizens in the way they access public services.
The NHS, he continues, is not currently shaped in a way that puts the environment at its heart. “It was built and designed for the way we used to live our lives 50 or even 100 years ago.
“People then were born into a local community and they lived and died there. That's why when you register with a general practice, it's still very close to your home. The interesting thing today, though is that most of us – excepting the current circumstances caused by Covid-19 – work from a distance away from where we live.
“So, you are in the situation where if you need a GP appointment, you often have to travel back from your workplace to your home for a 10-minute appointment. If you live in Glasgow and work in Edinburgh, that can be a near 100-mile return journey.”
The environmental damage of this outdated arrangement is clear. That journey, for a face-to-face appointment which may not even be necessary, is likely to emit CO2, particularly if it is made by car. It is also hugely unproductive in time terms.
This problem, Professor Crooks points out, is particularly acute in Scotland's remote rural areas. “People might have to make a four-hour round trip to access a hospital outpatient appointment or investigation lasting 15 or 20 minutes.”
The role of videoconferencing in replacing these face-to-face meetings has been transformational in alleviating climate damage, he adds. “The current pandemic has boosted the adoption of this in a really significant way.”
The statistics illustrate a huge surge over the last few months in the take-up of this more convenient technology. “In early February, there were about 300 video consultations happening across Scotland every week.
“Now, between primary and secondary care, that has gone up to more than 30,000. You can imagine the reduction in journeys that has brought and how much time it has given people back.”
Bold thinking and scientific innovation have led to other healthcare changes that cut down on the need to travel and on the production of carbon emissions. “People also have to travel a distance to get blood or laboratory tests done.
“Now, however, digitisation means that these can now be done in people's homes or in local health centres. In other words, they can be carried out in communities instead of at a more distant hospital.”
George Crooks gives a particularly compelling example of this. “One example that we have been leading on at DHI has been in the area of bowel cancer. The gold standard investigation for this is a colonoscopy, with a fibre optic endoscope inserted.
“Normally it is done in a hospital, and it's invasive, uncomfortable and embarrassing. Now, though, it can be delivered at home while you're undertaking your normal daily activities.
“It's carried out using a camera pill that is swallowed and is no bigger than a large antibiotic capsule. It has a light source and two micro video cameras and as it passes through the bowel, it transmits more than 300,000 images to a receiver worn on the belt round the waist.
“These pictures are then sent to a central point in Inverness where they are analysed, and it can be determined if further investigation or treatment are required.”
Avoiding traditional colonoscopes has another environmental advantage: these are expensive pieces of equipment and require intensive washing after each individual procedure. Clearly the new approach avoids the need for this.
Professor Crooks stresses the need to empower citizens to become better aware of their environment and how it impacts on their health and wellbeing. “Through the provision of information and knowledge, they are able to make better informed choices.
“We know the impact particulates in the air have, particularly on asthma and on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which are big problems in Scotland.
“If we can blend medical measurements such as how you're breathing with consumer generated data from sensors in cities, towns and even more rural areas, then you can use this information to calculate the time of your optimum journey to work – or, in some cases, work out if it's simply safer to work from home.”
The Countdown to COP26 event will examine these health and care activities further. “Everyone understands that the environment and climate change can have a negative effect on health – heatwaves and severe cold snaps can result in increasing death rates among the elderly and vulnerable, for example.
“What people perhaps don't realise, though, is that by transforming the way we deliver health and care services, we can benefit the climate in a positive way alongside improving our wellbeing.”
Among the guests at the Health & Wellbeing virtual session will be: Kathryn Dapré, Head of Energy & Sustainability, NHS National Services Scotland; Wendy Rayner, Sustainability Manager, NHS National Services Scotland and Caitlin Hamlett, Sustainability Manager, NHS National Services Scotland
“In February, there were about 300 video consultations across Scotland every week. Now that has gone up to more than 30,000
Join the conversation and take up the challenge by registering to join Scotland’s Countdown to COP26 at: https://hopin.to/events/scotland-scountdown-tocop26. The event takes place on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, is free to attend, and will be accessible online.