The Case for Smart, Productive & Future-proofed Healthcare Facilities: Redefining Healthcare with Technology
*white paper co-authored by Declan Hadley and
Peter Shearman, former Head of Innovation, UK&I, Cisco
The National Health Service (NHS) is embarking on a period of unprecedented change. Efforts to modernise healthcare will undoubtedly be hampered by the challenges of aging infrastructure and a growing maintenance backlog. In this white paper, we explore how we can redefine healthcare facilities by harnessing technology to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability.
This paper presents the building blocks of a smarter, more sustainable healthcare system, by triangulating insights from frontline staff, with Cisco’s experience of delivering IT infrastructure into the NHS, over the last forty years. To capture the current state, in-depth interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals and senior leaders, enhanced by a survey of 70 hospital-based HCPs in England. This research has complimented the understanding developed through ongoing partnerships with NHS Trusts, academia and industry, within the Lister Alliance.
This white paper dives into the current challenges, highlighting technology capabilities that can be used as a catalyst for change. Topics covered include optimising patient flow from arrival to discharge using digital solutions, through to creating a secure, reliable, and user-friendly IT infrastructure that improves the end-user experience.
At its core, a smarter healthcare facility can be understood by combining four functional tenets: flow, experience, adaptiveness, and infrastructure. Together these tenets will support healthcare providers to deliver safer care, be more productive, improve service resilience and empower both patients and staff to deliver better outcomes.
The paper concludes by outlining a methodology for creating smarter, more sustainable healthcare facilities that empower staff, improve patient outcomes, and adapt to the evolving needs of the NHS.
