Patients will have more access to care on phone app

HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster: 'What I want to see next year is a much greater footprint across Ireland of the use of digital for that direct patient management.' Picture: Denis Minihane

The healthcare sector is to expand the use of mobile phone apps from next year, with patients given access to applications to manage their own care, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster has said.

The Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group has highlighted its frustration at the slow pace at which technology is introduced into healthcare settings. 

However, Mr Gloster has insisted that improvements are on the way but he warned that cybersecurity is of the utmost importance following a devastating attack on HSE systems in May 2021.

“We are still post the cyberattack. We are rebuilding the infrastructure, rebuilding the network, and we have a huge challenge of work to do on that,” said Mr Gloster.

“We are still bringing nine former domains into one. 

And then there are all of the modern-day cybersecurity challenges.” 

Many healthcare workers said the 2021 cyberattack had a worse effect on their work than the pandemic. 

Mr Gloster said digital transformation is starting and will gather pace in the coming year.

“Right now, today, there is an advanced nurse practitioner in Donegal with an app on her phone; that app is essentially a virtual ward with 20 patients who have respiratory disease.

“She manages and monitors them, not just through the app but that is an enabler to her.

"What I want to see next year is a much greater footprint across Ireland of the use of digital for that direct patient management.” 

This change will involve doctors, nurses, and therapists, he said.

“We have to get closer to a patient app. 

“I want us to at least see the visible beginnings of that. It will take a couple of years to build it to capacity but we should see the working rather than the design part of that.”

It will be similar to the My NHS app used in England, he said. The NHS app allows patients to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, and view GP records, among other options.

At the HSE Enhanced Community Care conference were broadcaster Sean O'Rourke; Enhanced Community Care Poster Awards winners, Limerick Community Healthcare Network manager Marie Boyle, Wexford Respiratory Integrated Care senior physiotherapist Aoidín Kiely, Galway Integrated Care Programme for Older People operational lead James Geoghegan; and HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

The Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group report highlighted successes in the Irish response to the pandemic but said the lack of a digital infrastructure is a significant issue.

Ireland, like many countries, had to create data collection and analysis methods to cope with the large scale of the pandemic, the report says.

The team and a review by the World Health Organization “identified a lack of ICT infrastructure, insufficient data collection, and availability as factors limiting public health decision making and actions”. 

Improved ICT across health services in Ireland was identified as one of seven core priorities.

Mr Gloster was speaking during the Enhanced Community Care Conference in Dublin Castle on Thursday which focused on how care for older people is being improved outside of hospitals.

National clinical advisor Emer Ahern told the conference that consistency and clarity in planning care for older people are important.

“We have got to the stage now, and it is really tangible now here today, that there is now a standard where this is expected; this is the expected care in the community that we should be delivering,” said Dr Ahern.