Healthcare systems around the world are at breaking point. This can be put down to Covid, but in fact they were under immense pressure before the pandemic. We either watch the pressure build or we work together to reduce it.

Never has it been so critical for everyone to monitor and share their health, so we can learn from each other, says Mark Bradley (52), guest speaker at TEDx Enniskillen.

TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. Independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world and TEDx Enniskillen takes place on June 9 at The Ardhowen theatre.

Mark, who lives in Killyclogher on the outskirts of Omagh, has been working in healthcare for more than 30 years, since he started off as a nurse in 1988. A people person by nature who is passionate about helping others, Mark noticed that treatments didn't always work for patients and he thought there must be a better way to make informed decisions about people's care.

"I noticed early in my career that patients were different, Mark says. "People can present with the same symptoms but don't necessarily have the same diagnosis. And people can have the same diagnosis but not necessarily present with the exact same symptoms. As a result, treatments do not work for everyone, and if they do work, often it's not forever, with loads of patients having to have their treatments changed in order to get their conditions controlled.

"I believed back then that if we could see what worked or what didn't work for different presentations of a condition across different profiles of patients, we could make better decisions. Simply put, if patients were treated with the right medication first, then how much time would this free up for our health service? How much healthier would the population be?

"The challenge is in how we do this. Because research is so expensive, there is no chance that research will ever be done on every single presentation of a condition across all of the different types of patients. Along came the digital age, we now can do this.

"This is a simple concept really: if everyone taking a treatment for any condition knew how to monitor their health and, secondly, were given a device to do this in as simple a way as is possible, then we would be able to reduce the burden on healthcare."

Mark says that because we are all intrinsically different, a treatment may work for one person but not for another.

"You and I could get the same diagnosis, but our symptoms may not be the same, he says.

"We may need different treatments to make us better. If I don't get better, then wouldn't it be great if other healthcare providers could see that it didn't work for my profile as a patient and my presentation of the condition? If I did get better, then how valuable would it be for our doctors to see what worked for what presentation and for what type of person?"

Around five years ago, Mark was faced with the challenge of helping a loved one a situation that became the catalyst to progress his ideas.

"An uncle of mine was diagnosed with a condition and I found that evidence on treatment was limited to men aged between 25 and 40. However, my uncle was actually 78, Mark explains.

"I decided that day to build the app with this in mind. And the thing is, if all 78-year-old males with the same condition as my uncle had have had the capacity to monitor their health from the point of diagnosis, we would have more evidence as to what would work best for our future 78-year-old men who get diagnosed.

"As a nurse, I was educated on how to monitor health progression.

"As a pharmaceutical account manager, I was educated on medications, patient profiling, evidence and real-life experiences. I took all this knowledge and pulled together a team of IT experts to design and build the PeopleWith technology so I could help people get the best outcomes from treatments; so that I could help our doctors access evidence to help them make the best decisions; and so that I could help reduce the burden on the health service."

PeopleWith is available to download and use free of charge. The tool informs users on what to monitor and how to monitor it. When they have done so, the app enables them to share their health progression data with doctors, nurses or whomever they wish. Mark says the app will always remain free of charge because people who are unwell often struggle financially and he doesn't want anyone to have to pay to use it.

"I can't share any details just yet, but PeopleWith have just signed a collaboration with a major UK healthcare technology company, which will enable them to introduce the app to approximately 50% of the UK population, Mark says.

"The advantages of using the PeopleWith app are three-fold. Firstly, it creates numerous advantages for the individual. Secondly, it creates advantages for healthcare providers, as they can see if treatments are working or not faster, which removes the need for you to keep going back. This relieves the pressure on the health service but, most importantly, when we consolidate all of the health information from everyone, we will have evidence on what treatments work best for what presentation of condition.

"And thirdly, the greatest advantage of all: the creation of evidence to inform future treatment so patients are not just prescribed a treatment for their condition, but they are prescribed the right treatment at the right time for their presentation of the condition.

"Five years ago, people were diagnosed with a condition and started on medications. Some of them worked for some people, some of them didn't.

"If all of these people had have monitored their treatments and their health progression, we would now have access to a ton of information on what treatment worked best for what presentation of a condition.

"Our doctors would have access to evidence as to what treatments are going to provide the desired outcomes for patients. We would be closer to making informed decisions as to the prescribing of the right treatment for conditions at the right time."

Passionate about making a difference, Mark is looking forward to sharing his ideas at TEDxEnniskillen.

"When anyone attends a TEDx event, they expect to walk away being inspired and empowered, full of new thinking, he says. "I would like the attendees to come away thinking, wow, amazing."

"I want people to know that the concept I am presenting has legs and will create enormous value for them as individuals, the health provider and the population of the world.

"I want people to feel enabled to do something about it. I want them to feel empowered to monitor their health and share it.

"I want the audience to tell everyone of this amazing, realistic, relevant concept, to download the app, start engaging with their health and tracking their individual journey.

"I want others to become engaged with their health so they can get better outcomes for themselves primarily, but by doing so they are helping in the building of deeper insights on health conditions so the world can learn.

"If you personally suffer from a progressive condition, then wouldn't it be great if people who were further along the health journey could track their experiences so that when you reach that stage of the journey, there would be more intelligence and evidence on how to give you the right treatment for you at the right time so you have the greatest experience on treatment?

"As you monitor your own health, you would be effectively building the evidence for people who were still not at your stage of progression. It's simple: those further ahead would be helping you, while you would be helping those further behind.

"I want people to think, 'Oh, I can do that.'

"I would like them to think of their children, grandchildren, parents, nieces, nephews and friends.

"I want people to think, 'If everyone shared, then I would get value from their experiences and others would get value from mine.'

"I want people to shout out and tell everyone you should be tracking your health and sharing it, so we all can learn."

Referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, the entrepreneur says: "Never has it been so critical for everyone to monitor and share their health. The world was never exposed, in my lifetime, to a health risk that has been evident over the last two years. We do not know what the long-term effect of this is going to be. We do not know how the effect of this is going to present in each of us, if at all.

"Healthcare systems around the world are at breaking point. This can be put down to Covid, but in fact they were under immense pressure before the pandemic. We either watch the pressure build or we work together to reduce it."

PeopleWith can be downloaded from the App Store if you have an Apple smartphone or tablet, or via Google Play if you have an Android device. For information on TEDx Enniskillen, visit tedxenniskillen.com

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