The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 issue 5 (Oct) | Page 39

Report Finds UK has Potential to Become a Global Leader in Digital Health

Report Finds UK has the Potential
to Become a Global Leader in
Digital Health
A report commissioned by the UK government has found that
the UK is well positioned in many elements of digital health and
has the potential to grow into a global leader in this segment. It
has also cautioned that there are barriers to be overcome in order
for this potential to be realised, and that strong growth in other
markets could begin to erode the UK’s global market share.
The report which was commissioned by the Office of Life Sciences was undertaken by Monitor Deloitte as one of a series
of reports reflecting work on key healthcare and life science
industry segments in the United Kingdom.
The global market for digital health is worth £23 billion in
2014 and is expected to almost double to £43 billion by 2018,
a CAGR of c. 18%. The UK market size is £2 billion and with
the right support, is expected to grow to £2.9 billion by 2018
with a CAGR of 11%, driven predominantly by high growth in
markets such as mHealth apps (35% CAGR) and health analytics (24% CAGR). Therefore, the UK market represents a c. 9%
share of the global market in 2014, which is predicted to fall to
c. 7% in 2018 due to stronger growth in other markets.
In order to assess the wider dynamics of the Digital Health market the report authors assessed four sub segments:
»» Telehealthcare (telecare and telehealth): support
and assistance provided at a distance using ICT and the
remote exchange of clinical data between a patient and
their clinician
»» mHealth: mobile phone applications relating to health
and/or wellbeing and connected wearable devices
»» Health analytics: software solutions and analytical capabilities needed to assimilate big data
»» Digitised health systems: digital health information storage and exchange of digitised patient medical records.
The report analysed trends in the digital health industry based
on discussions with stakeholders, literature reviews and other
work across the sector. While it focuses on the United Kingdom
it does so within the context of the global market and draws on
examples from other countries.
It also considers the challenges to growth, barriers to adoption,
shifting dynamics and how the emergent industry is developing
with the intention of provoking discussion and providing an
overview of the industry challenges and dynamics in the United
Kingdom.
Key findings from the report:
»» Telehealthcare - The UK has a large installed telecare
base and this position should be maintained in the shortto medium-term; however in the long-term this sector will
likely integrate with mHealth.

The UK advantage in telecare, and in part in telehealth,
may be at risk over the short- to medium-term as the market is evolving. Fixed line and hardware-dependent systems, the current focus of large UK providers, are becoming increasingly mobile-based (i.e. merging with mHealth).
Markets such as Spain and the USA are moving ahead with
implementation of larger scale telehealth implementation,
whereas the UK continues to be in pilot mode and this disadvantages local industry as the UK currently lacks the scale
to drive growth in the sector.
»» mHealth - Currently, mHealth is being used more commonly by consumers to make decisions about wellness, but
the potential lies in supporting higher-impact clinical decision-making and developing the interaction between clinicians and patients.
The UK is an attractive destination for app developers, with
high levels of digital literacy and adoption, and a concentration of mHealth app companies around London. Wearables
manufacture is concentrated in the US, particularly around
Silicon Valley and there are few notable UK companies with
a wearables focus, such as Fitbug.
»» Health Analytics - There is great potential for health analytics in the UK; however, challenges around data access
need to be overcome in order to maximise the benefits and
grow the industry.
Health analytics is an emergent and fast growing digital health
sector. The market is currently still relatively immature but
expected to grow rapidly, c. 24% up to 2018. This growth
could be exploited by UK industry to become a world leader
in this sector, but there are barriers to overcome, such as
development of relevant skills and capabilities, data access
challenges and information governance issues.
»» Digital Health Systems - Large, North American companies dominate globally, but established local EHR providers
may be able to leverage their track record in primary care to
capitalise on the expected growth in secondary and acute
care settings in the UK.
The report suggests that the most promising market for growth
potential is in mHealth apps, which is currently the smallest digital health market sub-sector but is predicted to grow at 35% in
the UK and 49% globally from 2014 to 2018. Over time, it is
anticipated that telecare and telehealth will start to merge with
the mHealth apps market, and mHealth will be increasingly differentiated by the audience targeted for the app (i.e. consumer/
patient or professional).
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