How the NHS is approaching the future of XR and metaverse technologies

NHS England has been working to understand the capabilities of XR, and its current use in the NHS and healthcare internationally. 

We found that XR was being used in a multitude of ways across the NHS and social care. The top four areas using XR were:

• Education and training for patients and staff
• Mental health and wellbeing 
• Physiotherapy and rehabilitation
• Pain management

Other areas such as 3D visualisation of images or scans for pre-surgical planning, image guided surgeries and remote connections (for example for community nurses) were also mentioned.

The benefits associated with XR across these areas included:

• Saving staff time
• Improving staff experience
• Increasing accessibility 
• Improving efficiency of services
• Increased positive patient outcomes 

There are multiple use cases and case studies that evidence the benefits and potential of XR across health and care, including some within the NHS. In 2019 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust completed a study involving immersive VR treatment of children with autism related phobias, with results showing that nearly 45% of patients remained phobia free six months after treatment. 

At East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust trainee doctors are using virtual reality training equipment to practise endoscopy skills in an immersive and realistic way. Teachers are able to accurately assess students’ progress with the aim of maximising patient safety in real operations. 

However, our discussions with NHS providers, researchers and industry have also raised several barriers to adoption of XR. The most common barrier raised by NHS providers and XR suppliers was the lack of quantitative and qualitative evidence of the value that XR can bring.

Other common barriers identified by NHS providers, researchers and XR suppliers included:

• High initial costs for the technology 
• Difficulties gaining stakeholder approval
• The absence of a clear route to market
• A lack of clarity on regulatory requirements, with unique challenges brought by XR particularly around clinical safety, privacy and data protection
• Usability and accessibility issues for specific user groups in healthcare

Without robust data demonstrating efficacy, safety and return on investment, this can make obtaining buy-in a more difficult and lengthy process. The need for more robust data for XR in healthcare is becoming increasingly important.

In order to address barriers identified in our research, 12 recommendations were made in a discovery report. Work has already begun to address some of the short term recommendations in collaboration with colleagues across the NHS, government, research and industry. 

For example, we have:

• Awarded 14 NHS sites with £2 million from the Unified Tech Fund to pilot XR projects and generate evidence and learnings over the next 1-2 years
• Set up a community of practice to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing between the NHS, research institutes and industry 
• Established a clear route to market for XR in education and training to be taken forward by Health Education England 
• Developed living product directory to support NHS providers looking for specific XR solutions to meet their needs 
• Shared a list of evidenced high-level benefits identified through our evidence based library  
• Developed and shared a growing number of case studies, alongside their learnings and recommendations 

To explore all these themes and more, earlier this year the NHS joined techUK in the metaverse. You can watch this below:

techUK – Supercharging UK Tech and Innovation

The opportunities of innovation are endless. Automation, IoT, AI, Edge, Quantum, Drones and High Performance Computing all have the power to transform the UK. techUK members lead the development of these technologies. Together we are working with Government and other stakeholders to address tech innovation priorities and build an innovation ecosystem that will benefit people, society, economy and the planet - and supercharge the UK as a global leader in tech and innovation.

For more information, or to get in touch, please visit our Innovation Hub and click ‘contact us’.