Early findings on the impact of HUMA’s remote digital care platform, Medopad, have been released by the NHSX and Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network (KSS AHSN).
Medopad, a clinician portal and remote patient monitoring smartphone app, was assessed across five pilot sites with data collected between April and July of 2020.
The platform’s purpose is to enable patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 to record their symptoms and physiological parameters, including heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and body temperature.
It flags results to clinicians, with the intention to help with the tracking of symptoms, monitoring of patients and early identification of those at risk of deterioration and in need of intervention.
After rapid implementation across three of the five sites, Medopad was evaluated by KSS AHSN. The aim was to look at staff and patient experiences, as well as the potential impact of the platform on remote care pathways.
A mixed methods approach to collecting the data was used, encompassing quantitative analysis, research and literature reviews, surveys and exploratory analysis.
Among notable outcomes was an average of 32 minutes of saved time per patient at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT). While the most liked features, found in a survey of 30 patients, were the ‘visual reassurance that a GP had viewed the data’ and ‘ease of recording data’.
Ultimately, the evaluation was also intended to highlight recommendations for improvement, assess whether the solution was eligible and suitable for wider scaling and consider whether it would benefit the healthcare system.
The main primary care pilot sites were the North West London ‘hot hubs’ – where it’s possible for GPs to see COVID-19 patients face-to-face – of Central London CCG and Hillingdon CCG. While the main secondary care site was West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trusts’ Watford Hospital. At the latter site, Dr Matthew Knight MBE was already operating a ‘virtual ward’ and was interested in technology to help to improve the service.
Some of the most notable outcomes from the sites were:
- An average of 32 minutes saved per patient in WHHT
- An average of three minutes saved per ‘hot hub’ patient per day
- A 5% 28 day readmission rate for Medopad patients vs 8% for non-Medopad patients
- 100% Medopad patient recovery rate in primary care vs 87% for non-Medopad patients
- 68 was the average number of clinical follow-ups vs 7.33 for non-Medopad patients.
Key findings from the evaluation included a high level of patient satisfaction, no adverse health outcomes, some evidence of value and efficacy and the conclusion that it was a credible solution for remote monitoring.
From a survey of 30 patients, it was found that:
- 95% found the app easy to use
- 93% rated Medopad as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for care
- 76% felt happy to use this form of care again.
While responses from a group of 12 clinicians found:
- 56% felt the dashboard was easy to review
- 58% felt remote monitoring via Medopad was more time effective.
However, it was noted that the sample size was too small and the data inconsistent. The evaluation also logged that the platform was unable to ‘derive clear health economic outcomes’, required further validation of findings to ensure confidence, needed to measure resource requirements and recommended ‘close oversight and further evaluation’.
The report’s conclusions included a suggestion for further monitoring across more pilot sites, improvements to design and process and the need to develop measurement strategies, commercial development and health economic modelling.
You can find reflections on the project at nhsx.nhs.uk/blogs, or alternatively, view the visual summary or text summary of the evaluation.
Here at HTN, you can read more about remote modelling innovations in our latest feature.
