Millions of people are set to be handed smartwatches to track their health as part of Labour’s 10-year plan to save the NHS.
Wearable tech, including devices to track blood pressure, glucose spikes and how cancer patients are responding to treatment, will be issued across the country to help prevent illness and treat more people at home.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is set to announce a ‘national conversation’ on the future of the NHS on Monday.
On Saturday, he said: ‘If we want to save the things we love about the NHS, then we have to change it.
‘Our 10-year health plan will turn the NHS on its head – transforming it into a Neighbourhood Health Service powered by cutting-edge technology that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital. We will rebuild the health service around what patients tell us they need.’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is set to announce a ‘national conversation’ on the future of the NHS on Monday
Mr Streeting believes there are three major shifts required to ensure the NHS’ survival, The Telegraph reports.
The Government wants to move more care from hospitals to the community, focus on prevention rather than treatment and switch from analogue to digital services.
As part of this shift, gadgets such as smart watches will be prescribed to patients so they can monitor their own health in real time.
Diabetes patients will be able to track their blood sugar levels with phone alerts, while others can monitor high blood pressure levels.
And in what would be a major breakthrough, smart rings which allow cancer patients to track vital signs could be rolled out on a wider scale.
The rings have already been rolled out in Greater Manchester for some patients battling lung, bowel and blood cancer.
It would help patients to track their heart rate, temperature, physical activity levels and sleep as they go through treatment.
Other devices will be rolled out to patients recovering from strokes to monitor their mobility, with smart watches also offered to keep a record of tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
The hope is that if people can monitor their health more easily at home, it will reduce the burden on the NHS.
For example, Type 2 diabetes patients have to go to hospital or the GP once a month on average.
Mr Sreeting said: ‘The challenges for the NHS are stark, but the opportunities are huge. Modern technology will transform how patients are cared for, making their lives infinitely easier and the NHS fit for the future.
Millions of people are set to be handed smartwatches to track their health as part of Labour’s 10-year plan to save the NHS. (File image)
‘At the same time, we will protect what patients want from the NHS – the family doctor relationship, free healthcare at the point of need, and shorter waits for appointments. Our 10-year health plan will preserve the NHS’s traditional values in a modern setting.
‘It’s going to take time, but it is our mission to take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history, get it back on its feet and make it fit for the future.’
It comes after Labour this week backed plans to offer unemployed Brits free jabs of the controversial ‘miracle’ weight loss drug, Ozempic.
Defending the drugs, Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC: ‘I think these drugs could be very important for our economy and for health.’
He added: ‘This drug will be very helpful to people who want to lose weight, need to lose weight, very important for the economy so people can get back into work.
‘Very important for the NHS because, as I’ve said time and again, yes, we need more money for our NHS, but we’ve got to think differently.
‘We’ve got to reduce the pressure on the NHS. So this will help in all of those areas.’
Mr Streeting believes the latest generation of weight-loss medicine could have a ‘monumental’ impact on Britain’s ballooning waistline epidemic and ease the financial burden on the NHS and the economy.
Speaking in the Telegraph, Mr Streeting claimed Ozempic or Mounjaro jabs could kickstart a major back-to-work drive and boost productivity, with weight-related illness costing the economy £74billion a year.
The Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will work with industry to establish how the jabs could reduce demand for healthcare and get people back to work.
