Innovation in Healthcare — Beyond COVID-19 — Lessons Learned

The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the greatest healthcare crisis in the post-war era, causing huge disruption to global medical systems in addition to high rates of mortality and morbidity. But while it has caused dramatic upheaval worldwide, it has also led to a period of significant and positive innovation. This in turn has resulted in major advances in how healthcare is perceived and delivered. In the UK, we have seen fast-tracked digital adoption, centralised government support, and an urgency to find solutions in an entirely new social context. The subsequent paradigm shift in healthcare approach will have fundamental consequences for the industry.In this chapter, we investigate how innovation driven by the pandemic is challenging conventional approaches to healthcare delivery and accelerating the development and adoption of new digital technologies and care models. We find that the blurring between medical industries, technologies and services has the potential to democratise healthcare provision, improving outcomes and experiences. But this future is far from certain and will depend on the attitudes of governments, regulators, and society towards a new digital healthcare paradigm.