One of the key advantages of blockchain is that it removes the need for patients to provide the same information multiple times. The technology can provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive medical record, allowing patients to control what sensitive information is shared and with who.
With healthcare services under pressure with staffing capacity and budgets, blockchain offers the possibility to increase efficiencies across operations and free up staff from paperwork.
In the latest episode of the Blockchain in Scotland podcast series, the guest is Chaloner Chute, who is chief technology officer at Scotland’s Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre. He has been involved with several projects in healthcare that involve distributed ledgers and other trust technologies.
Listen to the episode below:
Over the last decade, Chute’s work has brought him into contact with thousands of people in healthcare settings. Chute says there is a common sentiment expressed.
“The number one requirement they have, pretty much universally in any walk of life, any use case, any scenario, any condition, is [they] wanted to tell [their] story once,” he explains. “[They] don’t want to repeat [themselves] over and over again as [they] move between people, teams, organizations, services, and sectors. It infuriates people. It’s probably the single biggest friction point that people have when they’re going through these kind of health and care journeys.”
Despite the promise, barriers remain for technologies in healthcare with slow adoption rates. “We’ve got that kind of underlying culture of we can invent things. Doesn’t mean we can adopt them necessarily quickly, but we can invent them.”
Given Scotland’s history of innovation in healthcare, blockchain could be set to follow once the advantages are understood more widely.
This episode explores some of the hurdles that need to be overcome for the full benefits to be realised of blockchain.
Listen below to the episode below:
This is a GlobalData podcast brought to you by Scottish Enterprise.
