Optimising Medical Equipment to Tackle the Gridlocked Healthcare System

The UK’s healthcare system is crushing under tremendous pressure, resulting in enormous backlogs in patient care. The NHS recently reported that over 7.2 million UK residents are waiting for medical treatment, with over 2.9 million patients waiting over 18 weeks for necessary care. These numbers reflect patients already in the system on waiting lists; the real number of patients in need of care is likely considerably higher.

While there are a myriad of issues in the healthcare system that have collectively created this situation—which was exacerbated by the pandemic—there are changes that healthcare systems can make to help ease this strain. A large portion of the backlog is patients awaiting surgery, and by utilising advanced medical devices such as ambulatory infusion pumps for post-operative pain management, we can ease the strain by enabling faster recovery to free up beds.