More than half of UK patients plan to use healthcare apps in future but they prefer traditional face-to-face appointments.
This is according to a report commissioned by Mobiquity and conducted by Censuswide in November, who surveyed 100 GPs and 1,003 patients to understand their experiences with digital healthcare technology and its impact on patient care.
The research showed a third of UK patients prefered using mobile healthcare apps compared to in-person consultations.
And the majority of patients (56%) planned to continue using apps with 69% saying they were very comfortable while using them.
More than two thirds (71%) of UK GPs said they would introduce apps in the future with more than a third (35%) saying they made it easier to prescribe the appropriate treatment for patients remotely.
Barriers to adoption
However, the report also showed that significant barriers remained preventing the adoption of mobile healthcare technology across the industry.
The majority (52%) of UK GPs experienced technical issues, with device compatibility the most frequently reported problem by 31% of doctors.
Another significant barrier was privacy, with more than a quarter (28%) of patients citing privacy concerns when using mobile healthcare.
Commenting on the report, Teun Schutte, managing consultant, Mobiquity said: “The pandemic has shown the importance of digital health solutions and the need for increased adoption in the future, while at the same time highlighting the benefits around ease of access to care for patients and lower costs for healthcare providers.
“The challenge that exists, however, is how to solve frictions in the delivery of mobile healthcare applications and other types of digital health in the future.
“Our research highlighted the main barriers to adoption for patients and practitioners, and the areas we need to optimise to ensure digital innovation is scaled successfully to improve patient outcomes.
“Indeed, technical issues and privacy concerns need to be solved by aligning stakeholder concerns before digital health products are launched.”