As we move further into the 21st century, the sustainable delivery of safe, high-quality healthcare presents an unprecedented challenge. Increasing demand on health services, reflecting an aging population with complex chronic comorbid diseases, is placing considerable strain on most healthcare systems which were designed primarily for episodic acute illness in the past.

SGH Hospital of the Future Podcast guest Professor Keith McNeil, Commissioner for Excellence and Innovation in Health, Government of South Australia, explains to podcast hosts Associate Professor Goh Su-Yen and Dr Amanda Lam why the continued over-reliance on acute hospital-based systems needs to be urgently revisited to enable more effective distribution of resources to facilitate the provision of care closer to or in the home, wherever clinically appropriate.

The march towards precision medicine will be critical to address the waste and harm delivered across modern-day health systems. Crucially underpinning these reform agendas is the need for high-quality, longitudinal health outcome-based data, enabling personalised treatment to always be delivered to every patient.

Professor McNeil envisions a modern digital ecosystem based on interoperability and advanced data analytics, which will enable healthcare to embrace 21st-century expectations, harness the promise of AI, and fully leverage data as one of our most valuable assets.