Preventive Healthcare: New Technology
1/39. What steps he is taking to use new technology to help improve preventive healthcare.
We are already using technology to improve preventive healthcare and to transform the NHS. We have invested £11 million in artificial intelligence to trial breast cancer screening mammogram interpretation. We are piloting the NHS health check online to tackle cardiovascular disease, and our NHS Better Health digital products, including the award-winning Couch to 5K app, were used by millions of people last year to tackle preventable conditions. More will be included in the 10-year health plan.
Leeds is leading the way in health tech, with Leeds teaching hospitals, the city council, NHS Digital and firms like EMIS, headquartered in Rawdon in my constituency, driving real innovation. How will the Secretary of State and his team ensure that Leeds is at the heart of the NHS 10-year plan, so that we can shift to prevention and spread the benefits to every corner of the UK?
I commend the work that my hon. Friend refers to. The new HealthTech innovation hub—a flagship project of the West Yorkshire investment zone—brings together West Yorkshire combined authority, organisations like the HealthTech Leeds partnership, academics, clinicians, policymakers and more than 250 health tech firms headquartered in the region. They are already driving forward health innovation together. As we have said before, we must learn about the best of the NHS and take it to the rest of the NHS. The 10-year plan will shift us to a model in which the NHS focuses on prevention, with more services delivered in local communities through new technologies.
A piece of technology that already exists that can prevent hydrocephalus is the humble tape measure. The Secretary of State said that he would ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to conduct a review of the frequency with which infants’ heads should be measured to allow us to detect hydrocephalus early. The charity Harry’s HAT—Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust—based in my constituency says that this review is not necessary, and that the evidence is already there. Will the Minister meet me and the charity to discuss this further, so that more infants’ lives can be saved?
In fairness, the Secretary of State did meet them.
And he has just sold me on what a wonderful charity it is. I would be more than happy to make sure that the relevant Minister meets the hon. Member to discuss the matter.