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Abstract

Digital technologies are increasingly being used in healthcare, by both patients and health professionals. Such use is often referred to as ‘digital health’. Digital technologies comprise a range of services that have the potential to improve treatment outcomes and patient experiences, and to lower the costs of healthcare. Digital health can be used to capture longitudinal outcome and experience data. Patient-reported data is increasingly required for health systems payments (an example being payments under the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation system) and outcomes-based contracting in the NHS. In this article, we focus on digital health technologies used in England to support patient-centred primary care. The article will consider an overview of policies leading to the adoption of digital technologies in primary care, current trends in digital health in primary care, case studies, key concerns and possible future developments.

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Digital health in primary care

Abstract

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