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Can tech save the National Health Service? – Tech Weekly podcast

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The NHS hasn’t got the greatest track record when it comes to innovation – but could the latest developments in tech help plug the gap in its finances?

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The health service has a notoriously bad rep when it comes to tech. The failed National Programme for IT that it launched in the early 2000s tore a £10bn hole in the public purse.

Now the NHS has pledged to go paperless by 2020. Can it manage it? What about some of the more hi-tech possibilities for patient care, could wearables provide the solution to 24 hour doctors? Or 3d printed pills democratise pharmaceuticals?

Joining us to discuss the state of the NHS’s digital health is the director of technology for NHS England, Beverley Bryant, Dr Mohammed al’Ubaiydli from Patients Know Best and Stephen Hilton from UCL on his research into 3d printed drugs.

General Election - National Health Service<br>BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 16: A nurse uses a wireless electronic tablet to order medicines from the pharmacy at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital on March 16, 2010 in Birmingham, England. As the UK gears up for one of the most hotly contested general elections in recent history it is expected that that the economy, immigration, industry, the NHS and education are likely to form the basis of many of the debates. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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