Could science fiction save NHS data and improve our health? | Anne Perkins
by Anne Perkins from on (#35XQK)
The most persistent fear for healthcare in 2100 was about the exploitation of genetic data. But health data could be a huge force for good. We need an open debate now
The NHS lurches its way through funding crises and organisational dilemmas. It faces the challenge of antibiotic resistance and it must ponder the deeply conflicted question of the uses and abuses of new technology. Its short-term horizon is so thronged with urgent problems that it would be a surprise if anyone had the spare capacity to consider how things could look by the end of the century.
A new social enterprise, Kaleidoscope Health & Care, however, decided it would be useful to try to raise the collective medical gaze into the very long term. Last year it organised a science fiction short story competition and invited writers to consider healthcare in 2100. The winners are announced on Thursday.
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