The BBC recently reported that, as of the end of November 2021, more than six million people were waiting for routine operations in the UK. This was the first time this figure had been hit in the history of the NHS and demonstrated the scale of the backlog in routine operations caused by the COVID-19 health crisis and its knock-on effect on the wellbeing of the nation.
One of the few silver linings to come from the pandemic has been the rapid adoption of innovation in healthcare. The race to develop vaccines in less than one year is a prime example – taking anywhere between 10 and 15 years in normal circumstances. Other technologies such as telemedicine for virtual appointments, and Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) that provides lifelike remote training for medical staff, have broken through with great pace.
