Mobile technology represents future of NHS healthcare, agree former Labour and Conservative health ministers

Alan Milburn and Stephen Dorrell tell e-Health Week that mobile apps have the potential to transform healthcare

Smartphones, mobile applications and other new types of information technology will be crucial in enabling better, more personalised healthcare in the NHS in years to come.

Those were the views of Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health under Tony Blair's Labour government between 1999 and 2003, and Stephen Dorrell MP, Secretary of State for Health under John Major's Conservative government between 1995 and 1997.

The former government health ministers both voiced their support for the use of the latest technology in the NHS during a discussion on healthcare priorities for the next government at the UK e-Health Week event at Olympia in London.

"What we need to do is incentivise people to be healthy and kept out of hospital rather than incentivising them to come in," Milburn said during the discussion hosted by Mike Farrar, former chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

Milburn told the audience that it was important for the patient "to be a player on the pitch, rather than a spectator", before going on to suggest mobile devices and apps represent the best way of achieving that.

"Technology is the means to that end. The most exciting things I see anywhere in the world now in healthcare are on this thing," he said, holding up his smartphone.

"Why? Not because it's a clever gadget, but because it empowers me to do some things about my own life," Milburn added, referring to applications that monitor health conditions.

Stephen Dorrell agreed. "The use of modern technology, information technology, allows a change in the relationship between patients and healthcare," he said. "It should enable healthcare to be much more effective."

There are already a number of NHS Trusts that are taking advantage of mobile technology, including South Devon NHS Trust, which has equipped nurses with iPads in an effort to improve efficiency. Lancashire NHS Trust has also rolled out its own mobile device scheme.

Speaking before the discussion between the two former ministers, Justin Whatling, chair of the British Computer Society's health arm, also stressed the important role technology has to play in the future of healthcare.

"Whatever the outcome [of May's general election], the next administration must prioritise reducing inequalities through personalised care and enabling technology to radically improve the outcomes for patients and citizens through integrated systems and services," he said.

"But as we know, this change needs to be underpinned by support from the professionals," Whatling continued, before arguing that the NHS needs to ensure it attracts top IT talent.

"We need to remove the health sector silo and attract talent from all sectors to help and support us across healthcare IT," he said. "The move to new technologies such as mobile and cloud is going to demand this of us."