Tracking temperatures using ‘cloud’ technology

Nobody is in doubt that the next decade will see a revolution in the treatment and diagnosis of disease. We’re already seeing how the Internet of Things (IoT) is opening up a world of possibilities in medicine – from managing depression through wearable technology, and monitoring and treating asthma with smart inhalers, to giving diabetics more control over the condition thanks to automated closed loop insulin delivery. The speed with which ‘cloud’ technology is being adopted to provide solutions at every level of the healthcare sector is astonishing, so it’s no surprise that water management specialists like Cistermiser and Keraflo are embracing this technology to help estates and facilities professionals gain real-time control over their water management. 

As with any innovation, getting full-scale adoption overnight is not realistic, and a process of building awareness and education is vital and to be expected, especially when it comes to technology. Research supported by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust, The Health Foundation, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, published in a 2018 report,1 has found that although technology has the potential to deliver significant savings for the NHS, the service doesn’t have a strong track record in implementing it at scale, and needs to get better at assessing the benefits and feasibility of implementing new technology. With increasing demands on funding, however, NHS Trusts are now having to seriously confront these challenges. I believe it’s a question of both future-proofing and learning from past mistakes.

Worst-case scenarios