Covid-19 : the defining milestone for technology in healthcare

Black Swan moment, game changer, Darwin on steroids for modern business – there are too many people out there making very bold proclamations on what the Coronavirus pandemic will mean for the world. We have heard everything from suggestions that people will no longer want to live in cities and the role of the office being completely redundant (sorry WeWork), through to the moment that the world collectively made a binary choice to prioritise short term lives lost over long term unemployment and the economy.
We hope some of these are vaguely right, but as ever with major events we can be sure none of the extreme predictions will ever become reality and the inbuilt human urge to return to old habits will prevail for most.
That said, like many of my peers in the healthcare sector, there is overwhelming agreement that the last three months, and the next three, will undoubtedly be seen as the defining milestone for technology in healthcare. It would therefore be remiss not to make a few observations on what we have seen, the ones who have got it right, what we need to learn, and a few predictions.
Needless to say in unprecedented times there is no such thing as an expert, just advisors. But hopefully this will give some food for thought as you boil the overworked kettle or log into Zoom for the 1000th time.
Things we knew already, but those outside of the sector needed a reminder:
The NHS is brilliant and provides the societal glue that we need at times like this. Just when you thought we would never surpass the peak of national pride during the opening ceremony of London 2012, someone comes up with the idea of a national clap. It relies upon brave hard working people that are the very lifeblood of our society. These people will never be replaced by technology, but they have historically been let down by it.Healthcare is awash with brilliant innovation, the issue has always been adoption. Risk averse regulators, politically motivated lobby groups, a pathological fear of working with the private sector, change resistant leaders and a lack of meaningful funding. These have always been the traditional barriers to improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare in the developed world, particularly the NHS.With the right urgency and permission, the private sector is an incredibly powerful asset in the delivery of care. Despite always being pushed aside and politicised, we have seen huge numbers of private healthcare providers step forward to provide capacity, manufacturers creating products at short notice and technology companies responding to a completely new problem statement through new digital channels. Sadly though, even in the middle of the biggest healthcare crisis we have ever seen, we have still witnessed a few ridiculous cases where anti-private sector sentiment is winning over any form of common sense, in the PPE crisis for example.Supply chain and procurement is like driving,...