Self-care and Self-Driven Healthcare (SDH) have emerged as important strategies for addressing the burden of NCDs. While self-care refers to the actions that individuals can take to maintain and improve their own health (e.g., healthy eating, physical activity, etc.), Self-Driven Healthcare (SDH) is an umbrella term initially proposed by Innovate UK to conceptualise aspects of healthcare delivery that can support people in becoming more engaged in their own health and wellbeing management rather than being passive receivers of healthcare.

The SDH approach involves individuals taking a more active role in managing their personal health and wellbeing journey, such as by using technology to monitor and track their health status and engaging with healthcare providers to make better-informed decisions about their care. Digital health technologies, such as wearable devices and mobile health apps, can help individuals monitor and track their health status, identify early warning signs of disease, and manage chronic conditions more effectively. For example, smartphone apps that track physical activity can help individuals set goals and monitor their progress towards meeting them, whereas patients with diabetes who use digital health tools to monitor and manage their condition are more likely to achieve better glycaemic control and have fewer hospitalisations than those who do not use these tools. Crucially, SDH also has the potential to address health disparities by democratising access to self-care interventions and improving access to healthcare for underserved populations.

The development of cross-cutting SDH solutions presents a real opportunity for the UK to build and grow companies with a large international market, and to become a global leader in the SDH landscape and knowledge economy. To address this call to action from Innovate UK, Quantifique (QNTfQ) was established specifically to help unlock the potential of SDH by accelerating the development, adoption, and diffusion of cross-cutting SDH solutions for public and patient benefit. Our work has led us to develop the case for an SDH portal – an online solution which we hope will transform how people can engage with their personal health and wellbeing journey, deliver healthcare, and positively impact people’s lives.

For the UK to remain competitive in the SDH landscape, we propose that national funding agencies invest in establishing a National SDH Ecosystems Hub that would commission the development, implementation, and piloting of the proposed SDH portal by 2030. While there are challenges to be addressed, the opportunities for SDH are too great to ignore. The report concludes with a call to action for stakeholders to work together to make Self-Driven Healthcare a reality. 2030 may seem like a long way away, but the future is already here!