Report on the untapped patient monitoring solutions market in Europe
October 31, 2015
Europe is faced with an ageing population that is also experiencing increasing numbers and intensity of chronic diseases. These two issues challenge the provision of accessible, high-quality, safe, economical and sustainable healthcare in individual member states and across the EU as a whole. 50 per cent of the hospital bed occupancy in European hospitals is of patients suffering from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). An estimated 15 per cent to 22 per cent of men and 12 per cent to 20 per cent of women suffer from chronic airway obstruction. In the last decade, COPD increased by 30 per cent in women.
Clinical Information Systems, Coupled with Patient Monitors, to Enable Monitoring and Recording of Patient Data
The economic slump has resulted in the freezing of infrastructural development spending by hospitals and delayed replacements of patient monitoring devices. This will eventually have a significant impact on the overall revenues of the market. Hospitals across Europe are also cancelling orders that are not critical. Additionally, there is competition from low-cost foreign medical device manufacturers who are rapidly penetrating the market, especially within the lower-tier healthcare institutions. Their aggressive price strategies and improving quality standards are gradually changing end-user perception, posing a threat to European market participants. "Fast changing technology makes it difficult for providers to sustain growth," notes the analyst. "As technology sometimes takes merely a year to become obsolete, hospital systems should be built on a platform that facilitates upgrades."
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