Smartphones changed the way I use the internet. My previous online behaviour seems almost quaint now.
Online maps, for example, were already pretty useful before I could access them on my phone. But a map on my phone - that knows where I am as well as where I'm going - is quite a lot more useful than a those A4 print outs I used to carry around. And a map on my phone that knows where I am and where I'm going, and with layers of additional useful information helping me to make choices about the thing I'm looking for, is even more useful than that.
Like a third of British adults, mobile internet apps have become integral to many of the things I do each day. Apps for networking like Twitter and Yammer, apps for reading like Reeder, apps for phoning home like Skype, apps for reminding me what to do like Remember the Milk. I use these apps every day. They have real utility, helping me to efficiently do specific things.
But apps can do far more than help me to be a bit more efficient. The Department of Health is responsible for a lot of information and a lot of data. In its raw state some of it will only be useful to people with the specialist skills and knowledge to interpret it. Apps could make our data more useful to more people, providing new ways to access and interrogate it, helping people to make decisions about their own health and care.
There are plenty of examples of health apps already of course. You don't have to look too hard to find them. If you search an app store you'll find some ropey examples, but you'll find some gems too - health apps that are no doubt already helping to provide health benefits and transform behaviour.
For the next 6 weeks, we'll be inviting people to contribute to a conversation about innovation, information and apps for health and care. We want to find the best, most effective existing apps, and the best ideas for apps that haven't been developed yet.
So if you've developed a health app, or if you use a health app that you've found useful, we'd like you to tell us about it. Or if you've had a great idea for an app that you like to see developed, we'd like you to tell us about that too. Or if you'd like to develop something yourself, but you can't get the right data - or the right quality of data - to do it, you can tell us about that too.
Maps and apps runs from today for 6 weeks, and we'll be blogging about it as we go. You can vote for the best ideas as people add them.
7 comments
Comment by Anna Wilde posted on
With only 27% of UK adults owning a smart phone, and therefore having access to these apps, and that 27% are most likely the most affluent of our society, doesn't anyone think it's a unethical for the NHS to develop and use apps which exclude almost three quarters of it's adult customers? And most likely excluding the poorest in our society; widening the gap of health and equality between the rich and poor.
Comment by Stephen Hale posted on
Anna - thanks for your comment. It's an important point and I take it very seriously. 27% is not everyone as you say, but it is a lot of people, and fast growing. But also, I don't see our work on digital innovation as being at the exclusion of work on inclusion. Smartphone apps will not replace other more traditional methods of communication or face to face contact. But technology makes things possible that weren't possible before, and that's really what we're exploring here.
Comment by John Fox posted on
An app for reminding the device owner to take medication would be a useful development. There are a few such apps available in the iTunes App Store but they're normally pretty basic affairs; they've been developed for a US market and so the terminology differs to terms we're more familiar with in the UK. I've yet to find an app that is clever enough to remind the owner to take different combinations of tablets at different times of the day for example.
Comment by Phil Topham posted on
Hello Stephen. Although I have used word, email and the internet for years, I don't use social networking sites, twitter or blog (usually). I do have something to say about apps but I would first like to note that I have not been able to find an email address or link for you on this page. I may be pathetically inadequate but it always seems that web pages are devised by people who know how to use them whereas the rest of us have to just get sweaty and embarrassed trying to work them out. In my experience, the excess of information that is on the internet tends to be reflected in the undue complexity of web pages. I think this is an important engagement issue, especially where we are talking about mental health apps: people who are anxious or depressed, even moderately so, have marked problems with attention and concentration and can feel overwhelmed with lots of information. I 'm quite happy and I feel overwhelmed sometimes! So that's my starter. Perhaps I shall find out in a minute whether this has gone anywhere and I shall then continue to talk about apps. Best wishes.
Comment by Phil.Topham posted on
Looks like I'm replying to myself though I have now, thanks to Stephen, found the actual apps site. I appreciate the value of the voting and comments on that site and I was hoping that this blog focused more on what underlying principles might guide us in thinking about and developing apps - something that I think someone else has mentioned. My interest is in self-help for mental health concerns, particularly anxiety and depression, so it would be discussion about engaging users in self-help processes via apps and what we need to consider - clinical, ethical, relational....etc.. So if anyone's interested in that conversation do pipe up.
Comment by Dennis Shields posted on
At first glance one would tend to agree with Anna Wilde's comment about the so called 'underclass'. But isn't it also true one might ague that a number of these are the first to have: a satellite dish, large plasma screen, smoke, drink and must have the very latest mobile at the detriment of their well being? These are the kind of people we need to reach and they have the latest technology.
Comment by Anne Al-Hassani posted on
I think it is a good idea and need to encourage patients to have the apps on the Smartphone to monitor patients health.
I have a Smartphone and I am using these apps for years (iBP=blood pressure and iCholesterol=cholesterol) .
I can take my blood pressure at home without the stress of going to the surgery and wait for long time but we have to make sure the patients who would like to use these apps must not taken advantage of.
I was watching the Sky news and GP introduce an app which will cost over £100 for a year.