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In previous years, we have seen an influx of changes in the way we treat and view our health. From masks and isolation periods, to hand hygiene and lung capacity.
With innovations in health and technology set to continue into 2022, here are some of Kinetik Wellbeing’s predictions and themes in the coming year:
The NHS will continue to tackle capacity issues
As our key workers continue to battle the Covid-19 crisis, the NHS will struggle to get back to full working capacity. Factors like population growth and new Covid-19 variants will mean that routine treatments and procedures will still be delayed and staff shortages are to be expected.
With this, the likelihood of ‘face-to-face’ doctor’s appointments will continue to be difficult to book, resulting in people turning to virtual doctors instead. Though this may help stop the spread of Coronavirus, it also presents additional risks, with a chance that illness will be missed and treatment starting later than it should.
Remote for the foreseeable?
A McKinsey report, published in summer of 2021, indicated that Telehealth has increased 33x compared to before the pandemic, with a huge pump of investment into platforms that aid virtual health.
However, video or phone appointments present considerable risk of GPs missing symptoms or signs easier to observe in person. This includes the way a person is walking or standing, speech or complexion, amongst others.
This may result in dissatisfaction from patients who may feel neglected or unable to virtually connect, particularly the eldery. At-home testing and monitoring will be a vital way to help lessen the stresses the NHS will face.
Health at home
Wearable and connected technology will become more readily available to make continuous monitoring easy and accessible for all generations, particularly those who are younger or busier. Having the ability to upload data to health-hubs will be immensely helpful for tracking and updating any chosen care giver or health professional.
With the larger understanding of viruses, as a society, it will become part of everyday life to track our health and the use of home testing and wearable tech, delivers this.
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