Oxford researchers contribute to report on the future of healthcare

'The Future of Healthcare: The Oxford Prescription', addresses issues such as the increasing pressures on healthcare as life expectancy and global populations increase, to the pressures placed on healthcare workers as demand for services increases. The solutions discussed include reorganising how healthcare is delivered and the use of digital technology in healthcare, as well as ways to prepare for future outbreaks and pandemics. It also acknowledges that significant inequalities persist in health outcomes, both globally and within the UK and USA, and the authors discuss the implications of this and possible ways to address it.

Specific topics in the report include drug discovery, biomedical engineering, digital health, public health and nutrition, genetic studies, primary healthcare and healthcare systems, vaccine development, cardiovascular treatment, immunology, and tropical and infectious diseases.

Commenting in the report, Richard Hobbs, Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said: 'The most productive health systems have the highest investment in primary care. It's not surprising because hospitals can deal with preventive health only in a limited way. Hospitals can’t detect illness early or screen within the general population.'

John Powell, Professor of Public and Digital Health Care, said: 'I believe the biggest impact could come from tackling traditional public health challenges. If we could get everyone to take more exercise and stop smoking and eat a healthier diet, I think that would be far more effective than worrying about their genome.'

Andrew Pitt, Head of Global Insights and Content at Citi, said: 'With life expectancy in many western countries stalling over the past 15 years, a shocking rise in population obesity, plus healthcare costs more than doubling as a proportion of GDP in the last 30 years, there are many challenges to revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare which is why we have turned to the experts at one of the world’s leading medical science universities to help us find solutions for improving population health. A new approach to healthcare can be implemented by applying and developing what we already know and by looking at healthcare systems holistically. The healthcare system today still largely works by treating problems after symptoms become serious. The core of the Oxford Prescription is to use newly developed techniques to address medical issues as early as possible, not after symptoms appear.'

Adam Spielman, Head of Future of Health, Citi Global Insights, said: 'This report is practical – it isn’t just ivory-tower wishful thinking. It’s easy to say, for example, that healthcare should focus on preventative health, or that new drugs should help as many people as possible. What’s unique about the Oxford Prescription is that it really addresses how these things can be achieved. In fact, many of the professors we interviewed are helping develop some of the key technologies that will allow it to be put into practice.'

The 17 researchers featured in the report are:

Sir John Bell, former Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University.

John Todd, Professor of Precision Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Medicine.

Sir Rory Collins, Head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and BHF Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology.

Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.

Richard Hobbs, Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.

Lionel Tarassenko, Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford's Department of Engineering Science.

Professor Gavin Screaton, Head of Oxford's Medical Sciences Division.

Chas Bountra, Professor of Translational medicine, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation, and Head of Impact and Innovation in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine.

Dame Sarah Gilbert, Saïd Professorship of Vaccinology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine.

John Powell, Professor of Digital Health at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.

Kevin Marsh, Professor of Tropical Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Medicine.

Barbara Casadei, BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine.

Hagan Bayley, Professor of Chemical Biology at the Department of Chemistry.

Michael Dustin, Kennedy Trust Professor of Molecular Immunology at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.

Trish Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.

Christopher Dye, Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford's Department of Biology.

Anneke Lucassen, Professor of Genomic Medicine and Director of the Centre for Personalised Medicine at the Nuffield Department of Medicine.

The full report can be read here.