A
Web 2.0 revolution is under way in healthcare, according to a
report from E-Health Insider.
Titled Web 2.0 in the Health Sector: Industry Review with a UK
perspective, the report concludes that new applications based on
social health networks will rapidly evolve to challenge existing
healthcare systems, and help create new ways of delivering
healthcare.
Such systems will include content generated by health service
users themselves, such as reviews of doctors and hospitals, says
the report.
The report says those who ignore the trends of "e-health 2.0
risk missing the early stages of a social, economic and
technological shift in healthcare planning and delivery".
Muir Gray, chief knowledge officer of the NHS, says in a
foreword to the report, "This report summarises some of the effects
of the revolution and identifies directions in which the revolution
will drive in future.
"The report of the revolution will, like all reports of
revolutions, please some people and frighten others, but the
accuracy and insights are important for all."
The report argues that e-health 2.0 will first and foremost be
consumer-led. The application of web 2.0 technologies into health
is already challenging traditional doctor-patient relationships and
beginning to place far greater power in the hands of consumers, it
argues.
The Patient Opinion service, for instance, is described as a
standard bearer in connecting public feedback into the development
of health services.
Patient Opinion allows the views of the public to be directly
fed back into the NHS to drive service improvements, the report
says.
