‘Increased integration of digital resources into the work process can improve collaboration in the healthcare sector.’

Enovation looks ahead to 2024

We are at the beginning of a new year. This is a great opportunity to look ahead. What can we expect in 2024, in terms of digital healthcare and collaboration? And which changes are we seeing on an international level?

Over the past few years, we have seen a major shift in how healthcare is delivered in The Netherlands. Healthcare professionals have increasingly started to use digital healthcare resources and appreciate the added value these offer, as the sector is under pressure from an aging population, staffing shortages, and high costs. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) runs a survey called the eHealth Monitor, which already showed that digitisation increases the affordability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare. But we’re not quite there yet.

Marcel van der Velden, CCO at Enovation

Improving collaboration
Marcel van der Velden (CCO, Enovation): “At the moment, we still see that people don’t always end up at the right place in the healthcare system. This is at least in part due to work processes not being properly aligned yet. Digital resources can really help with this. Take in-home medical care, for instance. Healthcare professionals can collaborate very efficiently by coordinating care and liaising with nursing and care homes digitally. Instead of calling nursing homes to ask whether they have space, you can access this information online. There will also be multiple professionals working on the same file, so the information is always up to date. This saves many calls and provides easy insight in available capacity.”

“It also makes support available to patients in certain situations through digital solutions, such as chat or video calling. We have seen this contribute to people’s self-sufficiency. The challenge for the years ahead will be to further integrate these kinds of digital resources into the healthcare process, and find a balance between physical and digital healthcare. This is also the way to get the most out of digital healthcare.”

Common challenges
The transition toward increased digitisation in healthcare is not unique to The Netherlands. In neighbouring countries, the sector is under pressure as well, and people are looking for innovative solutions. Van der Velden explains: “Although healthcare is organised a bit differently in countries like Germany, the UK, and Sweden compared to here in The Netherlands, healthcare professionals everywhere run into the same challenges.”Factors such as aging populations, staffing shortages, and high costs are putting pressure on the sector in these countries as well. And although the transition is at different stages, at an international level digitisation is seen l as part of the solution to organising healthcare differently as well.

The challenge for the years ahead will be to further integrate these kinds of digital resources into the healthcare process, and find a balance between physical and digital healthcare.

Record number of users in Great Britain
The NHS in Great Britain has an ambitious long-term plan to digitise the healthcare sector. A milestone has already been reached with the NHS app. In December, it was revealed that a record number – more than 81% of GP practices in Great Britain – were already offering the NHS app to patients, while the app has only been in existence for four years. The digital healthcare tool already seems to be indispensable, with more than 30 million users.

‘Gemeinsam Digital’
Digitisation is now high on Germany’s healthcare agenda too. ‘Gemeinsam Digital’ was presented last year. It is a ‘digitisation strategy for the healthcare sector and nursing,’ introduced by the German Federal Ministry of Health. Among other things, ‘Gemeinsam Digital’ is intended to introduce the electronic patient file (EPR). One of the reasons for introducing this program is to reduce the workload on healthcare professionals.

International steps
The Enovation Platform supports healthcare and other organisations in developing a sustainable healthcare system. Both in The Netherlands and internationally. Van der Velden explains: “We are also taking steps to support more healthcare professionals at an international level, in their collaboration with chain partners and clients. For example, with solutions such as Capacity Overview and Transfer (POINT), Personal Alarms and Telemonitoring (UMO/UMO cx), and Patient Portal (Funatic). These solutions have more than proven themselves and perfectly align with healthcare challenges at play in countries around us.”

How can we help you?

Wondering how Enovation Platform can help your organisation with the digitalisation of healthcare? Get in touch with us. We’d love to help you further!