From patients to consumers: What healthcare can learn from fintech - and how we engage patients

Where would we be without our banking apps? Probably in a bank queue, frankly. Banking, dating, food ordering; one barely has to leave the couch any more (a health problem of its own). But where a swipe of the screen and a few taps can see all manner of trinkets piped into our homes and minds, much of healthcare relies on creaking analogue systems.The moves from non-health entrepreneurs into the sector offer the opportunity for great learnings and transformation. So how can these learnings be safely applied to a creaking system whilst considering healthcare’s responsibility for patients’ lives? And should patients actually be seen as consumers, in our highly complex and (rightly so) regulated industry?