Healthcare: The Age of Control

I went to a great talk last night called 'The Age of the Cure: Healthcare in the 21st Century'. It was sponsored by 'The Specator' and Pfizer. A few themes came out of it.

• People living longer but for some there is a poor quality of life at the end of it
• NHS needs a redesign after 70 years
• There is a lot of nice shiny new technology that will help us manage our our health but it is our responsibility.
• There are low tech things we can do to improve our chances - less salt
• Technology will not replace face-to-face meetings with GPs
• People need some autonomy when it comes to choosing how to end their life. It is not a discussion that is encouraged and many people are not prepared for it and do not know what to do.
• The low hanging fruit of infections and diseases has been found. Improvements in treatment will be incremental.

I had a concern about the technology aspect as it seemed to be a new panacea for the population and illness challenges we face. The technology may be good but the IT firms rip the NHS off and have a terrible track record for delivery. I don't want millions or tens of millions to go to non-delivery of poor systems.

It was a good debate with food for thought. The weakest ideas came from the politician on the panel who used to be a Health Secretary. The GP was good and so was the DNA scientist. I was a bit concerned about the Medical Technology person as he is the type the large consultancies love to bamboozle while pretending to be his friend.