The outgoing chief executive has challenged the NHS to think “very radically” about redesigning pathways into the health service rather than just return to “the same old ways of doing things”. In an interview with HSJ, Sir Simon Stevens said the NHS has an “opportunity to think very innovatively” following the coronavirus pandemic.
Digital solutions can accelerate elective recovery and support new care pathways for patients, according to Tara Donnelly, chief digital officer at NHSX. As hospitals try to catch up with the backlog of five million patients waiting for treatment, she has called for the ‘virtual wards’, set up during the pandemic to monitor Covid patients at home, to be expanded for other conditions where patients would benefit.
In a blog for NHSX, Tara shares examples of digital home care to support patients with heart failure, COPD, cancer or in recovery from a stroke. In addition, she said digital solutions can support very different pathways for high-volume specialities such as dermatology, ENT, MSK, cardiac and perioperative care, and also improve the provision of care and guidance between clinical teams in primary and hospital care.
Market-leading technology
Inhealthcare provides a number of ways in which its market-leading technology can help trusts and ICSs to quickly and effectively deploy remote monitoring services to support patients at home and deliver on the objectives of NHS England and NHSX. These include our remote-monitoring service to improve quality of life for patients living with heart and lung disease in Norfolk, which has led to a reduction in A&E admissions and bed days among a group of high-dependency patients; the roll out of our teledermatology service after a pilot project in London showed benefits for patients and clinicians, and the launch of our new partnership with Olympus for patients awaiting endoscopy procedures to increase NHS diagnostic capacity and reduce the number of missed appointments.
Oximetry@Home
Notably, Inhealthcare helped deploy the Oximetry@Home service for confirmed or suspected Covid patients across southern England, making remote monitoring technology widely available to patients in primary and community care settings. Research shared by Dr Matt Inada-Kim, national clinical director for deterioration at NHS England, shows the service has reduced mortality, length of stay, intensive care admissions and readmissions. Thanks to the resourcefulness of an NHS nurse, the service has now been expanded in one county to support patients with respiratory conditions. We believe it is a fine example of how it is possible to embrace new ways of thinking to redesign pathways following the pandemic.
Please get in touch at contact@inhealthcare.co.uk if you’d like to find out how we can support your trust or ICS.