Philips showcases innovations that seamlessly connect data, technology and people at the Innovation Experience 2017

Johannesburg, South Africa – Every day, healthcare moves forward. And it appears nothing can stop the progress of human health. Yet even the most advanced healthcare networks can be more integrated. Systems need to be able to talk to each other. Data needs to be available when and where decisions need to be made. This reality is vitally important to Philips South Africa, which showcases how Philips, helps create solutions that connect people, technology and data seamless across the care continuum at the Philips Live! Innovation Experience, in Johannesburg today.

Healthcare in South Africa is a study in contrasts and Philips has adopted a two-pronged approach addressing both ends of the healthcare spectrum. Catering for the needs of people who currently don’t have access to even basic quality primary healthcare on the one hand, and addressing the rising incidence of cardiovascular diseases on the other hand – 210 people die from heart disease every day in South Africa and these statistics are on the increase.

The Philips Live! Innovation Experience, showcases technological innovations that deliver ever-greater precision and minimally invasive interventions, allowing clinicians to getting diagnosis and treatment right the first time, for some of the most challenging cardiovascular conditions and procedures. Also, Philips will showcase locally-relevant technologies and solutions that helps address the complicated and multifaceted issues facing primary healthcare in South Africa.

“At Philips, we believe health knows no bounds, and neither should healthcare.” says Jasper Westerink, Chief Executive Officer, Philips Africa. “With a presence in Africa for over 125 years we have a deep understanding of the challenges that affect the overall performance of our healthcare systems, and we see numerous opportunities to make it better. Innovation has been and will always be at the heart of Philips and the Africa Innovation Experience underlines how we are pushing the boundaries standing in the way of organising healthcare around the patient to deliver better outcomes. With Philips’ cutting-edge innovations, localized solutions and services, we remain committed to driving improved treatment and outcomes, and giving patients and clinicians a better experience across the healthcare continuum.”

Cardiology care is a key theme at the event; cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death globally, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year, and is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030[1]. Yet, most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by changing behaviours and eliminating risk factors. The event showcases, innovations that can help clinicians treat cardiovascular disease by speeding detection, diagnosis and treatment, driving more effective recovery and home care, and encouraging prevention and healthy living.

As part of the experiential setting at the event attendees will be able to see several solutions centred on improving healthcare delivery under two themes:

Seamless Cardiology | Access to Care

Seamless Cardiology

Holistic cardiovascular care begins with the heart, but looks beyond the disease to understand what matters for all people at the centre of care. Philips is uniquely-placed to make life better for patients with cardiovascular disease through its leading position in image-guided therapy with a unique portfolio of interventional imaging systems and devices, planning and navigation software, and services, supported by a global network of leading clinical partners. Innovations to be showcased will include:

Harnessing vital procedural information from various sources, such as imaging systems, interventional devices, navigation tools and patient health records. This next generation platform features a state-of-the-art ergonomic design with an easy-to-use intuitive user interface, enabling clinicians to swiftly and confidently perform a wide range of routine and complex procedures in the interventional lab.

Access to care

Focusing on equitable Primary and Community healthcare is a way to tackle the needs of people who currently don’t have access to basic quality health and healthcare. In particular, it means delivering services for low-resources settings in Africa.

Delivering ‘equitable’ access to health and healthcare fits the Philips strategy: which is to optimize healthcare delivery across the health continuum. Because primary care is the entry point for patients into the health system, it is ideally placed as the point where professional healthcare and consumer health is converging (personalization of care), and is able to deliver services at the lowest-cost and with better outcomes (industrialization of care).

Philips is uniquely-placed to create social and economic value in this space due to its current position and existing innovations; some of which were showcased at the Philips Live! Innovation Experience:

Community Life Centres (CLC)

This highly mobile, compact ultrasound system opens up the possibilities for healthcare practitioners across the wide variety of clinical environments in Africa to bring ultrasound in more often, with capabilities such as application-specific analysis packages, annotations, and tissue-specific pre-sets that can help a clinician perform more detailed studies. 

The results it presents are not only immediate, but it also enables healthcare providers  to identify high risk patients earlier to reduce the time from diagnosis to treatment or quickly discharge patients not in need of emergency care.