Not so long ago a broken hip would result in weeks or even months of hospitalisation as the bones were left to slowly knit together. Nowadays the broken hip is simply replaced, leading in many cases to discharge in a matter of days followed by recuperation at home.

Admittedly that recuperation requires the help of support services with physiotherapy and exercise advice being supplemented by aids such as walking frames but the new regime is far more effective and far better for the long term health of the patient. The patient is spared the challenge of being confined to bed for weeks and scarce hospital beds are freed up quickly.

But this new regime does bring with it the challenge of moving support services away from the hospital and in to the wider community.  Local health practitioners including physiotherapists are now seeing an increase in demand from patients who previously would have relied on in-hospital services. Depending on the health authority, those requiring rehabilitation and physiotherapy treatments may be offered outpatient appointments at a central or local hospital, treatment in local specialised centres or even home visits from mobility specialists. Whilst this range of options is designed to improve patient outcomes, it does require an increased focus on effective patient treatment plans and the sharing of information.

Luckily, whilst technological improvements have enabled swifter treatment of patients, they have also enabled health practitioners to remove some of the burden of non-essential tasks as well as streamlining data and information sharing. Take patient records for example.  Paperwork has been a perennial challenge for the health profession.   Countless hours which should have been spent in patient treatments have been wasted as records are transferred from one treatment centre to another or are stacked up on administrator’s desks whilst skilled typists struggle to interpret scribbled notes.

Even simply filing and retrieving records can take up time which would be better spent in focusing on patient needs whilst the mobility of patients around treatment centres has increased the danger of patients being lost in the system. Now, thanks to the advent of electronic filing, much of the unproductive time is no longer wasted.  Electronic filing not only reduces instances of mis-filing, it also enables records to be transferred between treatment centres and then brought to hand swiftly as and when required.

With clinical notes organised and important test results and x-rays available on screen at the touch of a button, health practitioners can not only maximise patient treatment times, they can start treatment programmes in a timely manner without having to wait for records to be transferred by post or hand delivered.  Link in online diary management or on-line booking services and yet more time which was previously spent on administration is freed up.

Such is the pace of technological change that medical breakthroughs are coming thick and fast, transforming health services and enabling patients to recuperate at home where once they blocked beds.  With administration also reduced thanks to technology, the face of the health service in years to come will be a very different one from that which in the past was bedevilled by paperwork and the delays and frustrations occasioned by filing, retrieving and transporting patient records.