Think to outthink

The patient is getting older, and is seen to have multiple long term conditions. I am a firm believer in the National Health Service (NHS); however, it is not changing fast enough to keep up with the changing demographic. Did you know that in the future we could have hairdressers working together with hospitals to flag missed appointments by pensioners? New treatments and research gets published daily and medical data doubles every 5 years, with 1900+ medical journal releases per month. Did you know that physicians on average only have 5 hours per month to read journals?

These are the types of questions being thought about at IBM, where I chose to carry out an eight-week secondment to see how a different company works, providing an alternative perspective and learning opportunities to bring back to NHS. The first week at IBM London flew by. I have met many interesting people and glimpsed the future of healthcare through mind-boggling projects taken on by this global organisation.

Monday was spent by the water in Southbank. It involved a frenzy of presentations, demonstrations, logins and Webex calls. For example – let’s think about clinicians monitoring multiple cancer patients. This involves measuring, by hand, miniscule size and shape differences between before and after images. Outthinking this issue: Artificial Intelligence based application performing these measurements automatically. The clinicians now have more time to see other patients. First impression is excellent – everyone I meet is passionate about what they, and every other IBM team are working on. I am yet to spot expertise silos.

Figure 1: Agile project management technique, visual representation of progress, the key here is transparency and involvement of client.

Before I knew it, I was whizzed off to their Winchester site, IBM Hursley: 2000 employees and 100 acres of scenic land made me feel like I was in an X-Men movie. Hursley House itself is a Grade II listed building, with dark wooden stairwells, gilded skirting and diverse, green grounds:

Figure 2: A cool spot for meditation at Hursley

Hursley houses some of the brightest individuals, who gladly and passionately demonstrated the projects they are working on for big private companies and government bodies such as the Ministry of Defence.

Figure 3: Hursley, Emerging Technologies demo room

Buzzwords and acronyms were hurled at me: Internet of Things, Blockchain, Big Data, Cognitive, Bluemix and Design Thinking are just some of them. The Internet of Things demo included work with an IBM Business Partner, CurrentCare, which showed how you can use sensors to ensure your home-bound loved one is looked after when you are unable to be present in person (from £0.23/day). The application of this technology is promising as hospital bed space is scarce and not always efficiently used. A night at a hospital can range from £500 to £1500, depending on electricity/equipment and speciality of staff.

Figure 4: Internet of Things, CurrentCare demonstration

The rest of the week consisted of learning how the Watson division sits within the wider company and how IBM liaises with healthcare organisations. Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is heralded as the first “cognitive” hospital – it harnesses “big data” and the power of Watson technology. An interactive application is being designed, which will help a worried child feel more at ease. This is expected to enhance patient experience through identifying anxieties and providing information and reassurance on-demand.

The above table and chairs sprung into life and rotated 360⁰, controlled by an internet-connected, battery-less device (powered by clicking the button). This is a company that is not afraid to connect the seemingly unrelated dots. It tackles issues with ease and dexterity, demonstrated by their projects. It is this type of thinking that is required to tackle the multi-faceted issues facing the NHS.

The first week ended with a “tea-talks” session where a group of IBMers explained their day-to-day roles. This was followed by a social media workshop, catching up with work and heading to the local pub with newly made friends. I know there is still a lot to learn about the organisation, but for now, I know it has bright, friendly employees and good values - this makes the journey ahead far from daunting