A groundbreaking report suggests transforming UK healthcare through a 'Physiology Passport' that tracks individual health data throughout their lifetime. The approach aims to shift from treating illnesses to preventing them by using comprehensive physiological information. By leveraging digital health innovations and personalized medicine, the strategy could significantly reduce NHS pressures. This data-driven method promises more equitable, proactive, and tailored healthcare for individuals.
"The NHS is under immense pressure, and it's
clear that we need more proactive and integrated solutions to healthcare"
- Dariel Burdass, The Physiological Society
A personalised and preventative approach may be crucial to
enable timely interventions, help people get early treatment this winter at UK
NHS, according to a report on Tuesday.
Key
Points
1. Personalised medicine approach using
comprehensive health data tracking
2. Shift from reactive to preventative healthcare
model
3. Integrating physiological biomarkers for
individual health management
4. Digital innovations to optimize public health
outcomes
The report by leading scientific organisations The
Physiological Society and PHG Foundation, proposes an innovative, data-driven
solution aimed at transforming healthcare delivery.
It notes that a personalised and preventative approach
would reduce the pressure and long-term costs for healthcare systems. It can
also tackle the increasing burden of treating non-communicable diseases,
including heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, among the UK's ageing
population.
The proactive approach, named as 'Physiology Passport'
-- to be launched in the Houses of UK Parliament today -- will be built on
existing patient records and track and collect all health data (such as blood
pressure, weight, cholesterol and blood sugar levels) for an individual over
their lifetime.
This, the report said, would all be stored in their
personalised health record. It is hoped that in the future combining this data
with information from other sources, such as wearables and medical tests, it
will be possible to build a detailed picture of a person's health.
"The NHS is under immense pressure, and it's
clear that we need more proactive and integrated solutions to healthcare that
shifts the focus from treating illnesses to preventing them. The proposed
Physiology Passport would put an individual's physiological data at the heart
of the health system, enabling earlier detection, personalised care, and
equitable access to prevention strategies," said Dariel Burdass, Chief
Executive of The Physiological Society,
The Physiology Passport relies on precision medicine,
a healthcare approach that could help doctors and researchers more accurately
predict treatment and prevention strategies for an individual, by considering
the individual's physiology, as well as their environmental, lifestyle, geographical
and cultural background.
An integrative and physiology-led personalised
medicine approach could optimise public health outcomes by offering a
healthcare service that is tailor made to an individual's needs rather than a
one-size-fits-all approach.
The aim is to improve health outcomes, reduce
healthcare system pressures, and help individuals lead healthier lives by
working to detect early health changes; empower individuals to manage their own
health; support healthcare providers; and enable proactive care.
The report also sets out a series of recommendations
including shifting the healthcare model from reactive disease management to
proactive prevention, establishing a unified health data infrastructure,
adopting digital health innovations and implementing community-based care
models.
"While molecular biomarkers such as genetics have
proved valuable in the management of many diseases, the dynamic information
provided by many physiological biomarkers will complement, enhance and provide
context to genetic information," said Dr Laura Blackburn, Head of Science,
PHG Foundation.
The experts noted that the Physiology Passport is a
unique opportunity to integrate varied and diverse biomarkers, defined
characteristics that indicate biological processes in health and disease, to
support personalised prevention.
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