Decoding genomics, unmasking the intricate mechanics of cancer cells, innovating R&D processes and injecting AI with transformative potential are the gospel of current and future health.
They command attention but their true impact still requires the elusive grail of patient activation – the incantation to bring forth dramatic improvements in healthcare and its delivery.
With it, every compound of scientific and medical advance becomes freighted with a huge potential – without it, the ability to enhance outcomes and efficiencies can wither.
Activating patients – supporting them to develop the knowledge, skill, confidence and opportunities to take a bigger role in managing their own health – is a critical exercise in creating a harmony across the often discordant physiological, psychological and practical pulse points of the patient journey.
For decades, healthcare systems around the globe have been grappling with how to energise patients to become involved in their health so that systems can transition from expensive reactive care to more manageable preventative models. Its importance is underscored by World Health Organization directives and endorsed by policy shapers around Europe.
The UK NHS’s grand Fit For the Future ten-year plan, announced in July, is laced with prompts and pledges to propel patients along engagement pathways to boost their personal health and ease tension in the organisation’s ever-climbing budget. But questions remain about whether it goes far enough and fast enough.
“I think the first thing to understand is that people are not deeply involved in managing their health until they become unwell and, generally, they then start from a place of not understanding very much,” says Professor Alf Collins, NHS England’s Clinical Director for personalised care from 2016 to 2023, and now part of the Personia Health consultancy that has developed evidence-based tools and techniques to support patient engagement and improve health outcomes when it comes to engaging with medicines and vaccines.
“Self-management is the default system we are aiming for and if we can support people to improve their activation levels they can have better quality of life and their care will cost less. The problem is that, broadly speaking, the support systems to enable that are not in place.
“If you want the NHS 10 Year plan to be successful then patient activation has to be the central cultural shift. It has to be the primary culture of the NHS to succeed. As the plan states, the ‘power to make the healthy choice’ needs to become the core mission for the NHS.”
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