Mölnlycke Health Care is a Business Reporter client.
At a time when healthcare systems around the world are facing tight budgets and ageing populations are increasing the number of patients requiring acute and chronic care, wound care is one aspect of medicine that is taking a backseat.
Between 25 and 50 percent of hospital beds are occupied by patients with a wound, and one in five patients in European hospitals has a pressure ulcer.It is therefore essential to effectively address this issue.
A landmark panel discussion at the Royal College of General Practitioners, convened by Mölnlycke Health Care, heard insights from a field of experts and leaders on how to capitalise on digital health solutions and innovations, heralding a transformative reduction in patient suffering and budgetary waste.
Adopting a new digital-centric approach has the potential to revolutionize wound care in the face of a variety of economic, structural and political barriers.
Embracing an opportunity
The contributors, from diverse backgrounds across the UK healthcare sector, identified the opportunity to develop a paradigm shift in care through the adoption of technology and the creation of partnerships that drive rapid adoption and effective system recalibration.
The panel highlighted a clear path to improved wound care delivery through digital advancements, connectivity and innovation combined with stakeholder collaboration (from patient to physician to procurement) and excellence in implementation.
This expert-led approach will be critical as a wealth of research and data underscores the economic loss, disruption of care, and risk to the patient that comes with poor wound care. A real-world study published in British Medical Journal reported that the annual cost of wound care to the NHS was £8.3 billion, of which £2.7 billion and £5.6 billion were associated with the treatment of healed and non-healed wounds respectively.
There is a clear need to bring together experts, both from a clinical and economic perspective. There are several influences at play, as the NHS carbon footprint target progresseswhich creates challenges but also presents motivations for the healthcare sector to find new and more effective ways to deliver care.
Healthcare providers can harness the potential to improve care and meet sustainability goals by collaborating more with the industry and taking advantage of opportunities arising from targeted digitalization.
Digital tools are proving to be a key element in healthcare, with the potential to improve clinical performance and skill levels, boost sustainability and raise staff satisfaction and mental health levels. A WHO study, published in The Lancet journal on digital healthshowed that healthcare professionals using digital health tools reported greater accuracy and effectiveness during decision-making and improved productivity.
“These findings are important because they reinforce our calls for governments and health authorities to promote and support the adoption of digital technologies among health workers,” said study co-author Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of National Health Policies and Systems at WHO Europe. “We are now seeing that, in addition to the positive effects, digital tools can also improve the overall delivery of health services, which by extension means better health care for people.”
Generating a holistic view of barriers to change and opportunities to improve wound care outcomes emerged as a key lesson that could be applied across all aspects of the health care system.
Innovative solutions
This can be enhanced by increased collaboration between suppliers and providers, as well as between procurement officers and clinicians in care settings. Partnerships forged early on between industry and service providers will pave the way for frictionless adoption and implementation of innovative solutions, so that they can deliver better outcomes for patients.
Technology and AI are expected to have a bright future in healthcare and wound care, but the need for new products must be defended on sound economic grounds and with the understanding that digital tools are there to enhance physician performance, not replace it, and drive better patient outcomes.
Crucially, the roundtable revealed that this approach still needs to be refined to allay fears and misperceptions – from data privacy to cost effectiveness and job security – that exist across the spectrum of patients, providers and clinicians. An enhanced education and awareness programme was advocated to reinforce the benefits through evidence-based presentations, while also receiving feedback on where and why adoption faces resistance.
Focusing on preventative healthcare and predictive models can also improve clinical performance and reduce resource consumption, to meet demanding carbon footprint targets and drive efficiencies that will be valued by the market. But organisations need to be aware that there are clear differences in digital potential between secondary/tertiary care and primary care, which are more challenged with time, resources and budgets.
Solid, evidence-based data
How companies collaborate with all sectors of healthcare across the patient journey is a nuanced challenge that needs to be reflected in strategy, with a clear requirement for additional education and support for implementation. Offering robust, evidence-based data tailored to patient needs early in the interaction can be proactive and productive in clearing up misconceptions and enabling an enabling environment for change.
The implementation process is clearly critical to the success of new technologies, as any innovation must be synchronized not only with clinical requirements but also with a hospital or clinic's workflow structures and budgetary responsibilities.
The findings from the roundtable showed that engaging with key stakeholders to understand their pressures and how they influence service delivery is a critical step on the path to developing positive and productive relationships.
These could include outcomes-based trials, where companies share risk with hospitals or clinics to alleviate procurement bottlenecks and generate real-world data that leads to broader market access. One product of such an approach would be patient outcomes data on the impact of wounds on patients that can be fed into national dashboards. This would serve the dual purpose of underscoring the importance of wound care across healthcare and elevating that knowledge to a broader audience.
Producing high-quality real-world data from digital applications that take into account patient preferences and facilitate adoption can enrich small pilot projects with the evidence needed to remove barriers to adoption. This helps demonstrate positive patient outcomes and allows commissioners and procurement departments to be confident in the benefits of innovative products.
The next generation in wound care
There is a need for industry to demonstrate that it shares patient values with clinical staff and can take into account the stresses and pressures that are part of daily NHS life in product design and implementation. The aim is to work collaboratively, to be co-creators and co-designers to drive the next generation of wound care.
This evolution of understanding and collaboration can be a gateway to greater adoption of digital tools, innovation and systems design, leading to vastly improved patient outcomes while protecting healthcare system budgets.
Healthcare systems are clearly under pressure from an ageing patient cohort suffering from multiple comorbidities, resulting in elevated levels of chronic wounds and ulcers. Reports have revealed that wound healthcare costs in Europe are expected to continue to rise, with a greater impact on patients, clinicians and healthcare systems.
Change is possible, as the roundtable concluded, but it requires collaboration, evidence gathering and advocacy, and long-term commitment.
Further roundtables will be held in other countries to shed light on the challenges and opportunities of digitalising wound care in different healthcare systems.
