Technological developments driven by COVID

Editor – The COVID-19 pandemic is upon us and the NHS is preparing rapidly. While there is huge anxiety and concern there are already discernable shoots of new practice driven by the current need that are likely to survive into the future, changing how we practice medicine. That these changes have happened so rapidly within such a large and often cumbersome organisation is a huge credit the ingenuity, dedication and ability of its staff.

Of these developments the almost immediate adoption of platforms such a Zoom and MS Teams for multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTs) has been particularly striking and successful. Within our department, all such meetings are now held virtually with a chairperson coordinating discussion and others manning the electronic patient record, picture archiving and communication system and other imaging systems, sharing their desktop to allow review of information. This has allowed the attendance of greater numbers of colleagues than ever before, especially those rostered to be off site. The format is liked and even the most technologically reticent have found the systems easy to use.

It is not just MDTs that have benefited, management meetings and teaching sessions having been successfully held using the same programs, a particular boon in our trust, which is based across four sites.

One is also struck by how quickly doctors and patients have taken to video or telephone consultations. One suspects that the introduction of such virtual clinics in ‘normal’ times would have taken months of preparation and organisation. The COVID pandemic has stimulated this to happen in days. The NHS Attend Anywhere programme is certain to be retained in our post-COVID practice and while not suitable for all out patient assessments, it does have the potential to reduce travel to hospitals and the time patients spend attending appointments.

It remains to be seen what other inventions the coronavirus will be the mother of, but it does seem that this adversity will be a driver of some positive change.