Health apps key to patient empowerment and integrated care

Public Health England digital lead Diarmaid Crean to share his vision at EHI Live 2015

The plans for the use of health apps in supporting patient-centred, integrated health and social care services will be revealed by Public Health England’s deputy director for digital services at EHI Live 2015.
Diarmaid Crean will be sharing his vision for digital health and discussing plans for endorsing health apps at Birmingham’s NEC. Appointed a year ago to bring his 20 years’ plus experience of digital technology in business to the field of health, Crean’s mission is to develop digital solutions for the NHS and the wider health system so that people can take charge of their health.
His presentation, ‘The role of apps in the integration of health and social care and the management of mental health and other health challenges’, will take place on 3rd November at 14.15, as part of The Health and Social Care Integration Conference stream.
With an app endorsement pilot due to start shortly, Crean will provide an update about the work undertaken by Public Health England around core priority areas such as mental health, obesity, diabetes and smoking cessation.
Following the recent news that the Health Apps library hosted on NHS Choices will no longer be available, Crean will share his thoughts on the way forward with the development of a new endorsement model for patient focused healthcare apps, and why he believes that “the merits of being in the app library have not been fully realised”.
“Wider experiences are that people search online for a condition rather than go to a ‘library’ looking for a health solution. An app needs to be alongside the content about the health issue rather than in a library, so it’s about finding out where the app users go”, he said.
“I love the idea of using the power of digital: to shift the responsibility about health, and to help people take responsibility for their own health. I’m curious about that because it’s our health service, so engaging more directly means that we own it more.”
Digital applications have a huge cumulative potential for improving health and care. But with potentially as many as 300,000 health apps - of variable quality - out there already, the challenge is to make sure users and the health service can benefit measurably.
As well as Crean’s presentation, EHI Live will be host to the HANDI Health Apps Conference, on 4th November. Now in its third year, the conference will look at how health and care apps and lightweight digital tools can support the delivery of efficient, patient centred care. It will address four main themes:
• Wearables
• Open digital ecosystems
• App accreditation
• App case studies
Delegates can register now for a free place.