Tech can save the NHS – but who will help grandpa keep up?

As a sci-fi nerd, it’s awesome that tech can take care of my diabetes – but as the nation ages, patients are in danger of missing out on a healthcare revolution, writes Jim Moore

Tech could also revolutionise the NHS itself, and already doing things. Ordering a repeat prescription – which I have to do every couple of weeks – is much simpler than it used to be. You jump into the app, click on what you need. A text from the pharmacy arrives when the meds are ready to pick up. Brilliant. (PA)

Because I have Type One Diabetes, I hate hot weather. It sends my volatile blood sugar levels into crazy territory.

I can see this now on my Libre app on the screen of my iPhone. I waft my mobile over an electrode the size of a two-pound coin in my left arm and a reading is produced, which feeds into a wealth of data about what my body is doing. So, of course, I no longer have to stab my fingers twelve times a day to find out what’s going on with the amount of glucose in my blood. It has been a revelation.

Wednesday, for instance, was the worst looking graph since I finally secured this brilliant tech. But overall, my blood sugar levels are now not far off those of a normal person without the autoimmune disorder (that would be the Type One, which I’ve had since childhood). Except when the heat gets in the way.