Saolta Hospital Group partners with the World Health Organisation to Deliver Public Lecture on Digital Health

A public lecture on Digital Health with Prof Derek O’Keeffe, Consultant Physician at University Hospital Galway and Mr Bernardo Mariano Jr, WHO Chief Information Officer is now available to view at: https://youtu.be/h9JvfPDRt98

Prof O’Keeffe who chaired the discussion said, “The future of medicine is Digital Health. As connected technology or the Internet of Things (IOT) becomes ubiquitous, certain aspects of healthcare will be able to be provided remotely. Patients won’t have to travel to the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ infrastructure as often to access hospital expertise and medical care.

“Equipment such as wifi-enabled blood pressure monitors, weighing scales, glucometers and thermometers will transform how chronic disease is managed, whereby a clinician will be able to access this data and have rich virtual consultations with patients about how to improve their health.

“This has been seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when several aspects of healthcare had to be delivered remotely including hospital outpatient consultations. Saolta hospitals embraced the potential of digital health by transforming to virtual outpatient clinics in March 2020; our strategy is to continue to be leaders in this new paradigm of healthcare delivery that will improve patient care.”

“The lecture details how digital health strategy integrates into the WHO current global program of work and the four key objectives of the global strategy on digital health: global collaboration; implementation; strengthen governance; and patient centred care. The discussion explores getting the equilibrium right between traditional and digital health and how to enable a digital transformation of healthcare.”

Mr Bernardo Mariano, the Director of Digital Health for World Health Organisation, believes that healthcare in this decade will become like banking. He said, “Most interactions will be done online, digital to digital, but occasionally you will have to go into the premises physically.”