To protect healthcare as an affordable and valued service, we need to segment as much of the pathway as possible into products

Maintaining care quality and affordability, in the face of increasing demand, complexity and resource constraints, is becoming more and more challenging. A mindset shift towards how we approach healthcare services is needed. I propose we segment much of the healthcare pathway into products, harnessing the capabilities of software and hardware, including judicious yet ambitious application of emerging artificial intelligence capabilities. In this future, digital tools and capabilities that enhance a greater proportion of self-care and signposting will do more of the heavy lifting of healthcare, vitally freeing up healthcare staff including doctors to do the higher-value relational, technical, and leadership and assurance tasks needed in this future landscape.