Digital Healthcare Projects Policy Action Plan

Whilst the policies of the centre are designed to support a focused effort researching the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including increasingly pervasive communication networks, it is recognised that increasing processing power and the ability to transfer more information faster through both wired and wireless systems means that the developments will also include increased ability to search, filter and share both data and information. Our approach is to find new ways in which technologies can be used to meet the challenges facing health and healthcare in the next 10–15 years. ICTs can both enable and drive change in health and healthcare, and this raises social issues as well as technical ones. Particularly important is that ICTs may drive healthcare towards treating patients nearer (or in) their homes, putting greater emphasis upon bringing the patient more actively into the processes supporting their own healthcare contributing to the transition from the traditional ‘paternalistic ’ model to one of negotiation and wider information sharing. These technologies will generate vast amounts of health-related data. These data are mad