Impact of Emerging Technology on the Economy of England
A current problem in England, the affected, locations of the individuals, and the resulting socioeconomic costs of the problem to the affected individuals
Healthcare plays a significant role in the economy of every country because healthy citizens are more productive, which contributes to economic productivity. The healthcare sector also plays a vital role in generating revenue that can be used for economic growth. The National Health Service (NHS) in England is currently facing unprecedented problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The main problem is the overcrowding of patients in hospitals as the virus continues spreading across the country (Ham, 2020). The NHS is also under pressure because they are tasked to deliver the most ambitious and world’s most effective vaccine campaign in the country’s history while also developing services for patients with Covid-19.
Patients with non-Covid healthcare conditions are being scaled back and even ceasing temporarily in some areas because of long waiting times for treatment and diagnosis on top of the backlog caused by the pandemic. Eliminating long waiting times of more than 52 weeks and meeting the broader standard of 18 weeks for elective care is anticipated to take years, inconveniencing patients who do not require urgent care, particularly in poor regions where most healthcare services are affordable (Ham, 2020). The absence of staff resulting from the COVID-19 infections and the need to isolate patients is currently having a significant impact on the NHS’s ability to take care of patients who have the virus and those who do not. This is also evident in domiciliary care and care homes. Reports of hospitals in England asking staff to restrict or cancel planned leave indicate the pressure in the delivery of healthcare services.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed significant weaknesses in both public and social care health in the long term. Successive governments have abandoned social care in England, all of which have been focusing on plastering solutions to sustainable development. Ham (2020) argues that this was portrayed in the country’s healthcare review in November. This is when the government announced that it would be giving extra funds to improve the current healthcare system but did not give any indication of when the long-stuck green paper on social change on social care might be released as a publication.
Emerging global or local technologies that could be used to solve the problem and the costs associated with implementing the technology solution
A review of the problem discussed above shows that the main factors contributing to poor healthcare services in England are long waiting times that are mainly caused by differences between the number of patients requiring medical attention on a daily basis and the available medical staff to meet this demand, a high number of patients visiting the hospital on a daily basis without appointments and the demand for medical practitioners’ services exceeding the supply of the practitioners. Waiting time, therefore, needs to be reduced by considering strategies such as the use of technology. The most effective technology is persuasive technology, which includes technologies designed to encourage desirable changes in behavior (Ikwunne & Orji,2017).
One of the technologies that could reduce waiting time is digital dashboards, which allow healthcare providers to collaborate with other specialists without having to meet face-to-face, thus creating more time to attend to patients. These dashboards also help centralize resources that help get information about a patient’s condition and contact the people delivering the required support service. One such technology is AristaMD, an application allowing organizations to use e-consulting directly through an Electronic Health System with the benefits of proven efficacy, baseline data, platform management, and complete reporting. It operates on the assumption that e-consulting improves timely access to specialty care for patients who would have had to wait to schedule a face-to-face visit.
The second technology is Chatbot. This technology is applied using a messaging system that can be installed in a patient’s phone to send videos, messages, and interactive responses to patients, thus increasing engagement. Care Navigation helps in guiding patients from the day-to-day procedure, pre-procedure preparation, and recovery. The technology incorporates 24/7 text updates, eliminating elevator hold music, dropped calls, and long waiting times. Patients, therefore, do not have to wait for long to speak to someone on healthcare issues. The third technology is centralized appointment scheduling, which can reduce patient wait times by ensuring that appointments are provided based on the availability of healthcare providers. The fourth technology is the queue management solution, which can create virtual waiting rooms, enabling patients to see the availability of healthcare providers before visiting the healthcare facility. This technology can also help healthcare providers automatically alter patient appointments based on the schedule of the healthcare provider.
The implementation of every technology requires meeting specific costs, which could either be direct or indirect. The main costs that are associated with implementing these technologies are acquisition and training costs. Acquisition costs will be incurred in purchasing the software and hardware required for implementation. It may also incorporate purchasing the required pre-conditions to facilitate the implementation of the technology, such as purchasing hardware and software upgrades. Training costs will be incurred to ensure that healthcare providers know how to use the technology. The facility may be required to outsource someone to train the employees to avoid interfering with the schedules of existing healthcare providers.
The extent to which this emerging technology will foster sustainability practices in the economy of England
The government of England bases its sustainable development vision on attaining social progress, which recognizes everyone’s needs. It further recognizes that everyone has the right to a safe and healthy environment. The technologies implemented to reduce waiting times will foster sustainability practices in England’s economy by eliminating health inequalities, translating to the creation of a healthy and productive workforce to boost economic growth. Additionally, it will promote sustainable economic development by creating a high-quality healthcare system that will attract foreign investors to invest in the country’s healthcare system, particularly because the technologies will allow healthcare facilities to attend to many patients at once, hence increasing the revenue generated per patient.
How an existing MNC in England could solve the problem by implementing of emerging technology while supporting sustainability practices
Great Ormond Street Hospital is a global healthcare facility in England specializing in providing children’s healthcare services. The hospital receives more than 250,000 outpatient visits and more than 40,000 inpatient visits annually (Great Ormond Street Hospital, 2020). The hospital also receives patients who are referred from other healthcare facilities both internationally and locally. The facility, therefore, requires implementing technology to reduce waiting time. Therefore, it could use technology to solve the waiting time problem by collecting patient information in advance to schedule appointments based on the patient’s health progress.
It could also use a patient portal to track the progress of a patient’s health and prioritize critical patients to ensure that they get the required health services as soon as possible. The facility could also use a queue app to let patients see their positions in the queue so that they can prepare for their appointments. The implementation strategies could support sustainability practices because they do not use a lot of resources. They focus on improving the people’s healthcare access, hence enabling them to be productive in society.
References
Great Ormond Street Hospital. (2020). Who we are. GOSH Hospital site. https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/about-us/who-we-are/
Ham, C. (2020). The challenges facing the NHS in England in 2021. BMJ, m4973. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4973
Ikwunne, T. A., & Orji, R. (2016). Persuasive technology is used to reduce waiting and service costs. Proceedings of the First African Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1145/2998581.2998590
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Question 
THE CHOSEN COUNTRY IS ENGLAND. MUST BE ENGLAND.
Write a paper (1,000-1,250 words) that discusses the following questions through your research and analysis of the effect of emerging technology on the economy of the selected country. Note that this assignment will be used as the basis for your Benchmark – Executive Summary assignment in Topic 8.
Impact of Emerging Technology on the Economy of England
Define a current problem in the selected country. Who is affected? Where are the individuals located? What are the resulting socioeconomic costs of the problem to the affected individuals?
What global or local technologies are emerging that could be used to solve the problem? What are the costs associated with implementing the technology solution?
Apply the Hype Cycle and the 6 Ds of disruption model (also known as 6 Ds of exponential change) to the emerging technology.
To what extent will this emerging technology foster sustainability practices in the economy of the selected country?
Explanation of how an existing MNC in the selected country could solve the problem by implementation of the emerging technology while supporting sustainability practices.