The remote monitoring technology that came of age during the pandemic is now being used to set up virtual wards to help local areas discharge patients from hospital in a timely way, safe in the knowledge they will be cared for at home.
Inhealthcare delivered the UK’s biggest remote monitoring service during the pandemic and is using the same tried-and-tested approach to help NHS organisations to extend hospital care into patients’ homes.
Ahead of the coming winter, the government is targeting practical measures to support the NHS and has launched a new £500 million fund to get people who do not need to be on wards out of hospital and into social care. Local areas will be free to determine how to spend the money but the government will be looking closely at the impact and using this data to inform future decisions on funding.
In a speech to NHS Providers, Health Secretary Steve Barclay highlighted the opportunity for supportive technology to speed up delayed transfers and said the latest technologies and trends could improve outcomes for patients and make sure that taxpayers’ money is well spent.
Founded more than a decade ago, Inhealthcare has led the way with the development of remote patient monitoring in the UK with more than two million patients to date benefiting from its digital health services co-designed with clinicians.
The company’s platform provides the building blocks for clinicians to deliver convenient, easy-to-use and digitally inclusive remote monitoring services, which enable patients to receive healthcare in their home instead of in hospital, increasing capacity in actual wards.
Inhealthcare worked with Wessex AHSN during the pandemic to design and build the Oximetry @ Home service for Covid patients across southern England. It has since been used by more than 25,000 patients,making it the largest remote monitoring service of its kind in the UK. Research published in the BMJ this year demonstrated a significant association between the service and better patient outcomes; “most notably a reduction in the odds of hospital lengths of stays longer than 7, 14 and 28 days and 30-day hospital mortality”.
The same, proven infrastructure is being used by ICBs to develop and roll out remote monitoring services for other conditions, including for patients with respiratory illnesses. This uses blood pressure cuffs, oximeters and thermometers to record NEWS2 scores, physiological ‘early warning’ measurements that are routinely recorded at a patient’s bedside.
Hospital consultants elsewhere are using the platform creating a virtual ward for patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation who would otherwise need to stay in hospital. They are “starting off safe” with low-risk, tech savvy individuals before expanding to provide hospital care at home for patients with more complex needs.
Looking ahead, Inhealthcare’s platform has open and published APIs for connecting to a diverse range of high-tech devices, from weighing scales to wearable patches, which can support a multitude of health conditions now and in the future.
The company already has the capability to step down and step up patient care, allowing patients to move from spot monitoring to continuous monitoring as and when required by their healthcare professionals. Analysis of the data this generates can yield vital insights into health trends and allow more healthcare to take place outside of traditional settings – freeing up even more hospital beds.