YOU MAY HAVE MISSED...

I had a short break in Barcelona last weekend and - as well as seeing the sights - I visited the shopping centre in Port Vell, where I was relieved to find a public convenience to use - although a bit miffed to be charged €1.20 to do so.  

 

I should have known better.  As well as providing a convenient facility, I encountered my first ever experience of a smart urinal.  After relieving myself, I waited a few seconds before hearing the happy news that I was perfectly hydrated as you can see from the image here (nothing untoward was on display when this image was taken).  Since it was 33 degrees at the time and I'd spent the last two hours walking across the city, I was pretty pleased.  

 

Initially, I thought this was a gimmick, but the more I pondered the potential, the more I feel confident these kinds of innovations are the future of healthcare in a society where prevention will be as important as cure.  People are already embracing smart fitness technology and DNA Genetic Testing.  Incorporating health monitoring into everyday life could be a great way to get people more aware of their wellbeing.  

 

How about measuring resting heart rates through public transport seat rests? Or a monthly blood test check at work that involved little more than a pin prick on the finger?  Or even monitoring exercise exertion levels through smart towels in a gym.

 

Keeping ourselves healthier for longer will be the only realistic way to manage healthcare budgets in the future.  Quickly analysing data to educate people to make more informed choices could be a big part of this - as could collecting this data and using insight from it to drive societal change.  

 

The other critical factor is the development and implementation of technology to heal people faster and diagnose conditions earlier - such as our MedTech client Sky Medical Technology.  

 

Implementing this kind of technology - that can transform the speed of healing or diagnose earlier - is the only way healthcare systems globally can manage the growing gap between demand and limited resources available.  This prompted me to write a blog on this subject and you can read it here.