NHS embraces wearable health devices such as the Apple Watch to improve care

NHS embraces wearable health devices such as the Apple Watch to improve care Monitoring activity could help patients take better care of their health and allow doctors and nurses to keep abreast of changes without several appointments.

Wearable devices to monitor our health and vital signs are being enthusiastically embraced by the top brass of the NHS. There is not a trace of old-fashioned fustiness or scepticism in their attitude to new gadgetry. NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens and its medical director Sir Bruce Keogh are both keen to explore what technology can do for us and for those who take care of us when we are sick. No surprise there – the truth is the NHS needs all the help it can get.

What will help most is if patients take better care of their own health and avoid getting ill in the first place. That’s where the Apple Watch comes in. Like a number of other devices on the market, it monitors a user’s activity levels, counts calorie expenditure, and registers heart rate – a personal trainer strapped to your wrist. The built-in incentives and the shame factor of knowing you have hardly moved from your chair all day will undoubtedly work for some, but it is those most motivated to be fit and healthy who are likely to be the ones who will buy it. If you don’t really want to take more exercise, it’s fairly unlikely you will fork out the cash. Continue reading... The Guardian