To transform, the Irish health service must adopt more of a leadership and innovation mindset

Innovation in healthcare has the potential to improve all of our lives, yet the Irish health service has been traditionally slow to embrace it. Despite some rapid adoption out of necessity during the Covid pandemic - telehealth, for example - many innovations with the potential to transform modern healthcare delivery remain out of reach of Irish patients.

As country head of value and access with pharmaceutical company Novartis, Ian Addie sees innovation come to fruition on a regular basis. Previously with VHI Healthcare, he helps in delivering pharmaceutical innovation for Irish patients in areas that didn’t even exist before, such as cell and gene therapies, treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), nuclear medicine, along with other novel advances in oncology and cardiology. But the thing is, Addie points out, innovation isn’t always the flashy stuff.

“We often tend to confuse innovation, which to me is anything which has the ability to add value and improve an outcome, with the implementation of a new technology which enables innovation,” he tells The Irish Times.

“If we look at the health system, we have seen improvements in health outcomes, such as people living longer or improvements in cancer outcomes, so we can say that the health service has been constantly adopting innovation”.

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Legacy issues with Ireland’s health information systems were exposed most obviously with the 2021 cyberattack, but Addie says that the failure to bring our health IT infrastructure up to speed means the health service is stuck on the back foot. For example, these inefficiencies mean “big data” cannot be used to help with our healthcare decision-making. “If we look at the delays in the universal implementation of individual health identifiers and electronic health records (EHRs), these have impacted negatively on our ability to drive large scale innovation at pace.”

Yet that could be set to change. Novartis is a key partner in a unique collaboration with Science Foundation Ireland and FutureNeuro (a research arm of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)) on the Learning Health System in a Digital Hospital (LEGEND) project. Led jointly by consultant neurologist Professor Colin Doherty at Trinity College Dublin, who will present on the project at next month’s Future Health Summit, and biostatistician Professor Kathleen Bennett at RCSI, the project will attempt to harness health data for improved patient care.

People should have access to their own medical data, enabling them to become more involved in the management of their own health

Addie explains that by mining the vast wealth of health data we have at our disposal –we can help to drive innovation in patient care. “I’m really looking forward to hearing more on the potential impact the LEGEND project will have.” Novartis is also sponsoring the Innovation section of the Future Health Summit. Addie says this is a natural fit for the organisation. “Innovation is central to everything we do, it’s in our DNA.”

Adopting innovation at a faster pace is ultimately what is required to meet the demands of our ageing population. While the pandemic did allow some key initiatives to finally gain momentum, this enthusiasm for innovation must now be maintained or even increased, Addie says.

“To give credit to the Irish system, if we look at some of the advancements made during the pandemic in Ireland we saw the rapid adoption of cloud based data platforms to collect and collate Covid-19 data, the roll out of the Covid tracker, increased use of telemedicine, as well as e-prescribing and e-referrals, proving that when we need to the system can operate with pace,” he notes.

This will require not only investment, but significant leadership. Addie believes the Irish health service must adopt an “innovation mindset”.

“We need to put the enablers of innovation in place. In 2021 the ESRI estimated that Ireland spent just 0.8 per cent of the healthcare budget on e-health and health technologies, compared to our European peers, who were spending three per cent of their budget on health technologies. We need more leaders in the healthcare system to champion health digitisation, as Ireland currently ranks low in this area,” he says. “This is critical if we want to deliver a better service and outcomes for patients in Ireland.”

Education will also be critical, Addie says, with people naturally wary of their private health data being shared or exploited, particularly in the aftermath of the cyberattack. Patient access to their own medical records should also be part of this move towards digitisation. “People should also have access to their own data and become more involved in the management of their own health.”

According to Addie, an immediate step that would enhance the patient experience should be the implementation of EHRs and e-health universally across the system, both in the acute and community settings and in the public and private sectors. “This will ensure that data is transferrable between all providers at every level and will lead to better informed, faster decision-making, reduce duplication, create efficiencies and provide cost-effective solutions,” he explains. “When we look at the demographic trends and the impact that our ageing population will have on the health services, it is imperative that we gain momentum in the coming years.”

To find out more log onto Novartis.com