Sino-UK Health Informatics Seminar Highlights Digital Health Innovations and Collaboration Opportunities

On January 19–20, the International Exchange and Cooperation Center of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, NHS England, and UK Trade & Investment jointly hosted in Beijing the China-UK Seminar on Health Informatics and Digital Health Exhibition, themed “Digital Health: Addressing 21st-Century Health Challenges.”

The seminar aims to establish a high-level dialogue platform, inviting experts, scholars, and industry professionals in health informatics from China and the United Kingdom to share their experiences and challenges in digital transformation and explore collaborative opportunities. A dedicated Digital Healthcare Demonstration and Experience Zone will be featured, showcasing solutions across multiple domains, including healthcare software, health and social security data services, big data processing systems, diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for dementia in the elderly, clinical support systems, and mobile health solutions.

Approximately 200 participants, including leaders and experts responsible for informatization from health and family planning authorities and medical institutions, as well as industry representatives, attended the seminar. Nearly ten startups from the UK also participated. So, what did the experts say at the conference?

Conference Venue

James Bryce, Minister-Counsellor and Chief Operating Officer of UK Trade & Investment: Informatization is a Key Factor in Ensuring the Efficient Operation of the National Health Service

The advancement of digital information can transform the landscape of modern healthcare and enhance efficiency. Digital health reduces costs, enabling broader access to medical services. Whereas individuals previously received substandard care or lacked access altogether, they can now obtain more comprehensive medical services.

Gao Weizhong, Director of the Exchange Center of the National Health and Family Planning Commission: China Has Made Remarkable Achievements in Medical Informatization Construction

Informatization represents a genuine, comprehensive, and profound transformation that touches every level and group within the healthcare sector. From the formulation of national health policies to the collection and analysis of public health data; from basic medical research to clinical practice; and from the development of medical equipment to the education and training of medical students, the development and application of information technology permeate the entire spectrum of healthcare work and extend into all related fields.

China is actively exploring a path for the development of healthcare informatization that aligns with its national conditions. At the recently concluded 2015 National Health and Family Planning Work Conference, it was emphasized that informatization remains one of the key priorities for health and family planning work in 2015. The United Kingdom has a longer history in healthcare informatization; it has already passed through the developmental stage China is currently experiencing and has entered its second phase. There are many experiences and reflections from the UK worthy of our study, understanding, and reference, particularly in areas such as the top-level design of healthcare informatization, addressing issues of information interconnectivity, interoperability, and sharing, integrating and establishing a national data platform, ensuring information security, and conducting scientific research and talent development, where they possess rich experience.

Guo Liping, Deputy Dean of the Institute for Humanities at Peking University Health Science Center: Interdisciplinarity is the Cornerstone of Healthcare Informatics

China currently faces significant challenges. On one hand, we have a large rural population; on the other, there is an insufficient concentration of medical equipment and healthcare professionals. Most resources have accumulated in major cities, leading to increasingly strained doctor-patient relationships. In recent years, digital health has been widely regarded as a crucial tool for addressing future doctor-patient dynamics. However, whether this tool can effectively resolve China’s issues remains an open question. What supportive measures should we adopt? The School of Humanities focuses on mobile science and remote education. One of our objectives is to enhance capacity building, helping us leverage innovative spirits to solve real-world problems.

Lei Haichao, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission: The responsibility for organizing and developing medical and health services should be transformed into a shared obligation borne by all citizens.

The United Kingdom has made addressing national health issues a collective societal responsibility. The costs required for the development, construction, and operation of healthcare services are shared among both the healthy population and those who are ill through taxation, thereby effectively establishing a mechanism for sharing the economic risks associated with disease. China’s current healthcare reforms precisely need to draw valuable lessons and reference from the UK’s reform process.

In regions such as Beijing and Tianjin, the per capita GDP has already surpassed $15,000. At this level of economic development, should we not provide our citizens and residents with healthcare services that are more equitable, efficient, high-quality, and satisfactory? Is there any justification for delaying the achievement of such equity and efficiency? I believe the answer is no. As our generation stands at a historical juncture in health reform, we should spare no effort to create a “Chinese model” for the benefit of our citizens and for the advancement of global health.

Chen Dongmin, Dean of the Institute of Industrial Technology at Peking University: Pharmaceutical Informatics Presents a Massive Opportunity

China is now the world’s second-largest economy and is projected to reach a per capita GDP of $10,000 by 2020. By that time, the healthcare sector is expected to account for 10% or more of GDP. Overall, this implies a 400% growth in China’s healthcare industry by 2020, representing a tremendous opportunity.

Residents have a very high demand for healthcare services and physicians. As they gain access to more resources to seek better care, we are facing a significant shortage of healthcare professionals. I strongly agree with Professor Guo that digital health will indeed play a crucial role in helping us bridge this gap. Digital health represents a tremendous opportunity for people in China and around the world.

Li Yanfeng, Associate Professor at Peking University Health Science Center: The Field of Digital Health Innovation Requires Interdisciplinary Talent

Understanding mobile health requires a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral knowledge base. One must not only be well-versed in medical information but also possess expertise in informatics technology, networking, and certain aspects of business. Initially, many students lost confidence, feeling that mastering mobile health seemed like an impossible task.

However, this is not an insurmountable challenge. We have access to substantial intellectual support from experts across diverse fields and institutions. We recognize that understanding such an interdisciplinary industry requires the involvement of interdisciplinary experts. To this end, we have invited university professors and business leaders to engage in dialogues and hold discussions with our faculty and students. We have also facilitated conversations between investors and students. It is precisely because of this extensive external intellectual support that we are able to help students reignite their passion for scientific research within the research sector.

UK’s Madhukar Bose: What Is the Future of Healthcare Informatics?

Undoubtedly, we must enhance data transparency. We can leverage big data analytics to evaluate the performance of healthcare institutions as well as individual physicians. Making such data publicly accessible will empower patients with greater choice and drive improvements in the quality of the national healthcare system. In China, individuals have been able to access their personal medical records since March 2015. A range of digital services is available to help patients better manage their health and make more informed decisions.

With these technologies, we also have the support of patient budgets. Patients have specific budgets for medical treatment and can decide where to allocate the healthcare funds provided by the government. This allows them to better control how their money is spent and from which departments they receive healthcare services.

BMJ’s Yugan Kong: Focus on Practical Solutions

The BMJ is renowned for *The BMJ* (formerly the *British Medical Journal*), but as an organization, we are more than just a journal; we are a global provider of healthcare knowledge. Founded in 1840, we have a history spanning 175 years. Affiliated with the British Medical Association, we are a not-for-profit publisher. Our current business operations are broadly divided into five areas: medical journals, medical education and training, health support, health data analytics, and quality improvement.

Matthew Donnelly of ERTS: Providing Emergency Solutions to Alleviate Patient Suffering

ERTS is a UK-based training and consulting company that has recently launched a web-based solution designed to manage pediatric emergency care and enhance the skills of healthcare professionals. The system comprises three components: equipment kits, web-based medication protocols/evidence-based latest research/reference documents, and learning courses.

David Ward of Grey Matters: Focusing on Elderly Health

As a partner of Newcastle University, we have received substantial support from the Institute for Health and Ageing and the Biosciences Institute. Currently, both Newcastle University and the Newcastle region rely heavily on the elderly care support and services we provide. With our company’s presence, local seniors are more confident in leading healthy and happy lives.

Let us take a close look at the specific services and products we offer. We are focused on providing a long-term digital solution for patients with chronic diseases. Our attention is not limited to online resources; rather, we are concerned with how the entire community can deliver comprehensive medical solutions to residents. First, we must clearly identify the stakeholders involved in this solution. We cannot simply provide patients with new technologies and leave them to use these tools on their own. Instead, we aim to develop a sophisticated suite of tools that offers an end-to-end service, going beyond merely supplying patients with technology or medications.

IXICO: Early Diagnosis of Dementia Using Medical Imaging

We are primarily affiliated with QOL, including members from University College London and experts from various fields. Our work mainly focuses on the field of brain science, while also increasingly expanding into other areas.

We maintain close collaborations with nine of the top 15 global university-affiliated biotechnology companies, jointly conducting a variety of clinical trials targeting different types of diseases. In the field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we have carried out extensive clinical research. We have conducted more than 40 large-scale clinical trials in partnership with the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company, focusing on leveraging medical imaging technologies to demonstrate drug efficacy and safety. By utilizing IXICO’s proprietary data analytics, technologies, methodologies, and technical platforms for data management and processing, we ultimately generate tools that assist companies and even hospitals in diagnosis and decision support.

Medopad: Digital Healthcare Holds Great Promise

Healthcare is undergoing transformation—what does this mean today? We have already discussed this point. Chronic diseases pose a challenge, and population aging represents another significant challenge. Meanwhile, healthcare costs are also rising. At the same time, if you consider it, we are now generating an ever-increasing volume of data. Throughout the history of healthcare, the amount of data created between 2010 and 2014 was substantial.

How to leverage these data is a global challenge. We believe the solution lies in developing digital health, as it is straightforward, cost-effective, and can be rapidly implemented.

Nine Health: Data Mining and Data Analysis

We are a non-profit organization focused on data storage, data mining, and data analysis. We have aggregated extensive clinical research data covering the entire European region, having collected millions of electronic medical records (EMRs) that are amenable to quantitative analysis. Our focus encompasses all aspects of the mobile health industry; in addition to data analytics, we also concentrate on wearable probes and sensors.

Scotland’s Centre for Digital Health: Scotland’s Digital Healthcare Is Under Development

Digital healthcare is also a cutting-edge industry in Scotland. The Scottish government is vigorously promoting this sector, with an annual allocation of approximately £100 million. Scotland currently has a population of around 5 million, and each patient is assigned a basic electronic record encrypted with a Community Health Index (CHI) number, which is highly noteworthy. In 2013, we consolidated all information into the MHS system.

TPP: Providing Digital Health Software

TPP is the UK’s leading healthcare software company, providing world-class medical software solutions. With 17 years of collaborative experience with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), we are actively seeking opportunities in international markets, including the Middle East, India, and China, building on our proven success domestically. SystmOne is powered by a robust and highly scalable database. Adhering to the philosophy of “one patient, one electronic health record,” SystmOne ensures that each individual has a single, lifelong electronic health record from birth to death, which is seamlessly shared across various healthcare modules.

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