NHS organisations across the Humber have come together to launch the Humber Health App Store, designed to help local residents find clinically reviewed, safe and secure apps to help monitor their health and wellbeing.
The library humberhealthapps.co.uk contains a range of apps that have been subjected to seven stages of rigorous testing.
The initiative has been developed with ORCHA (the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications) to provide the best and safest apps for hundreds of different needs, such as better mental health, stopping smoking, improving fitness, overcoming breathing difficulties, and managing diabetes.
As part of HTN Digital Week January 2020, Liz Ashall-Payne, founder and CEO of ORCHA said “There are 15% to 20% of health apps in the market that meet the expected quality; you are more likely to find a bad product than a good product.”
With more than 325,000 health apps on the market, the Humber Health App store will support the Humber region to find the best and safest ones, in the shape of an easy-to-use.
Each app is subjected to seven stages of rigorous testing to investigate how safe and user-friendly it is, and to assess any potential risks it may hold, before getting a clear and transparent review score that is shown on the apps library. With upwards of 200 new health and care apps hitting the market every day, the library is updated constantly to keep pace with the latest clinical guidance.
The site also has the added dimension of assisting GPs and other health professionals across the Humber region recommend trusted apps to their patients.
Dr Anne Jeffreys, Local GP and East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Chairperson “Health apps are a great way to get up to date, useful information on looking after yourself and keeping healthy. They are also a good way of monitoring your own illnesses especially long-term conditions such as diabetes. Humber health apps have been clinically reviewed and are safe and secure to use which is very reassuring when there are so many source of information available.”
Dr James Crick, Associate Medical Director, NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group “Apps and digital solutions are not for everyone, but having a trusted source of advice should help those individuals, who wish to, to identify apps which are safe and useful. This may support some of our people to make more informed choices around decisions that could impact on their health in the longer-term and improve their own physical and emotional wellbeing.”
John Mitchell, Associate Director of IT at the CCG “Every day across the Humber, people from all walks of life, young and old, use mobile apps to improve their health and well-being. With more than five million downloads globally every day; they are increasingly becoming an important part of our everyday life.’
“Yet for us, apps aren’t just about giving information – they are also about engaging patients in their own healthcare.”
“Our patients already use apps to check their symptoms, track their worries, monitor their medications, and review all manner of concerns. Now this site allows us to help them find those apps that will let them do so in a safe way.”
