Stephen Hannan: It’s time the optical sector embraced telemedicine

Technology has revolutionised our behaviour. It’s changed the way we stay in contact with friends, do our shopping, read the news, and access our bank accounts. Whatever we’re doing, it’s likely that it’s facilitated by tech in some way. The best technology makes life easier through simplicity, speed and ease of use. The same should be true in healthcare. Increasingly patients are calling for more convenient and modern ways of accessing health services.

The healthcare system is adapting to the modern world, albeit slowly. Back in 2014, NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh said existing and developing technologies offered opportunities to ‘transform the way we engage in, and control, our own healthcare’. But since then healthcare has lagged behind other sectors when it comes to adopting tech. For example, there are a growing number of services for people who would like to have a consultation with a GP via video call using Skype or FaceTime, but the NHS is only beginning to embrace these options. The NHS long-term plan, launched by the Prime Minister recently, will soon see patients routinely speaking to their GP via methods of communication such as Skype or a smartphone, and refractive surgery should not be left behind when it comes to tech.