At a time when new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, made ending Covid-19 social restrictions his immediate priority, it should be remembered that the effects of the digital revolution hastened by the pandemic are likely to be felt for a long time to come.
Rather than simply allow restrictions to grind industry to a halt, UK businesses have seen the pandemic as an opportunity to innovate and have swiftly taken products, meetings, and services online to work around the lockdown. Covid accelerated the adoption of digital solutions at an unprecedented pace, creating new opportunities for scaling up digital approaches to social and economic life.
Indeed, as Javid paid tribute to the fantastic efforts of NHS and social care staff, alongside the successful UK vaccination programme, credit should also go to all businesses who have worked tirelessly themselves to innovate throughout the crisis to help keep themselves and this country running.
As swift an end to social restrictions as possible is needed to remove the shackles from industry and allow British business to thrive once more, but it is unlikely to bring about an immediate return to the pre-pandemic normal for many. The way this country does business is likely to be much changed for a long time to come because of the innovations we have seen during lockdown, and the vigour for the nation to build back better and greener.
For Impact Ltd is one company that has brought forward its digital revolution and innovated during lockdown, with the changes it has implemented likely to remain in the future. Originally set up by UK Centre for Medico-Legal Studies director and consultant psychiatrist, Professor Tony Elliott, For Impact works in tandem with the legal sector to provide assessments across a range of different areas, including medical negligence, personal injury, parenting assessments and the psychological consequences of trauma, bullying and harassment.
Rather than simply allow Covid restrictions to freeze their operations, For Impact rapidly developed a secure system to carry out remote assessments via video link, ensuring that video consultations were up to the standard of face-to-face assessments. The online transition was helped somewhat by the fact that the company was ahead of the curve, having taken the decision to make the company paperless, digitise operations and take all data storage online in a GDPR compliant manner.
What was perhaps unexpected, however, was that this transition toward a remote operations framework improved For Impact’s working practices in several ways.
Speaking to The Parliamentary Review, For Impact director Linda Elliott explained: “Firstly, these changes allowed us to eliminate the risk of infection entirely, something that is particularly important when dealing with vulnerable people. Since we make psychological assessments, there is no routine requirement for a physical examination, so nothing is lost by working remotely. In fact, we found that we were much better able to assess verbal and non-verbal forms of communication when neither we nor the patient were wearing personal protective equipment. Importantly, solicitors have also stated that our virtual assessments have been more than satisfactory in court.”
Furthermore, it was found that vulnerable patients actually found themselves more at ease when undergoing remote assessments at home, rather than having to travel to attend a clinic, which also has a beneficial knock-on effect for the environment and time efficiency within business.
Linda continued: “Our feedback from claimants about the experience of remote assessments has been highly positive. Finally, working remotely has meant that we have cut all forms of travel, further reducing our carbon footprint, and saving even more time and money. As a result, our turnaround time for reports has decreased yet again, currently running at an average of four weeks.”
With other businesses experiencing similar benefits, it should be expected in the British business sphere that the online vision of companies and ambitions to innovate further will continue to expand. While there will always be a place for in-person meetings, consultations and events, remote exchanges seem likely to remain part of the mainstream for a long time to come.
In For Impact’s case, this is no different.
“As we look towards the future, our own online vision and ambitions continue to expand, particularly through Professor Elliott’s academic work with the UK Centre for Medico-Legal Studies”, Linda added.
“The UK Centre for Medico-Legal Studies continues to function as an online and in-person forum fostering international dialogue between medical and legal professionals around the world.”
Whether the digital revolution is favoured or not in some business circles, it is here to stay. With it comes new challenges for industry leaders and policymakers relating to newer digital threats and best practices in the realms of data collection. The ethics of artificial intelligence will become a new concern for government legislation at the national and international level, and we must collectively embrace this challenge and the plethora of others that come with the new digital age. For Impact is one business prepared to do so, and many others can be expected to greet the future with similar enthusiasm.
