Last week we wrote a blog post on how digital health is creating a culture of self-management, but digital health is taking this one step further with healthcare tech developing apps that could potentially save thousands of lives.

Vic Gundotra runs a successful firm called AliveCor a company inspired by his father’s severe health problems which prompted him to develop  a heart monitoring device ‘Kardia Band’ which has been gaining a lot of traction within the medical industry.

Kardia Band is a device which has been developed to integrate with Apple watches, and allows the app to take an electrocardiogram (ECG) of your heart, spotting atrial fibrillation which is one of the most common forms of an abnormal heartbeat and more importantly a major cause of stroke. It is no surprise why this has caused excitement as it could potentially save thousands of people’s lives.

Not only do devices such as the above save lives but they have the motivational factor to instil in individuals to modify their behaviour and monitor their own health and wellbeing.

An estimated 14million deaths a year are down to heart disease and stroke, so with the help of technology health budgets could effectively be placed in more needed areas. Simon Stevens, head of NHS England has said “innovations would be ‘fast-tracked’ so they can be adopted within the English health system much more quickly.”