The next feature, as part of our week-long series to celebrate entrants to the HTN Awards 2021, focuses on exceptional examples of delivering virtual consultation software.
We know that being able to provide virtual consultation services for patients has been crucial since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It allows staff to set eyes – albeit through screens – on patients and vice-versa. In some settings, and when treating specific conditions, it’s crucial.
But there are many other reasons to embrace this type of technology too, including potential savings of time, money and travel, with the environmental factor also weighing in heavily. It’s no secret that the healthcare sector in the UK is seeking ways to reduce its impact on the planet.
But who is currently implementing virtual consultation technology and – what’s more – who is behind the software that makes it all happen? We take a look at a few case studies…
eClinic inclusivity at Black Country Trust and beyond
Healthcare Communications’ eClinic, a video consultation platform, delivers inclusive virtual care. Enabling patients to attend appointments safely, the software is now live with seven trusts at the time of writing and awards entry.
The platform’s development was completed at a timely moment – December 2019, just months before the coronavirus crisis swept through hospitals and primary care settings in the UK. Due to the situation, Healthcare Communications tell us they sought to alleviate some of the ‘pressure the NHS was facing’ by offering its new tech free of charge for 12 months, to support hospitals and help deliver care remotely.
Features of the platform, which was built with input from ex-NHS employees and clinicians, include live translation in over 100 languages, ‘read aloud’ tools for those with vision impairment, customisable SMS and email invitations for people with learning difficulties, screen-shares suitable for x-rays and high-quality sound and video. A high-level analytics dashboard to provide metrics is also included, which can potentially save hours of admin time.
Healthcare Communications highlight that value is ‘quantifiable’ through the reduction of DNAs (did not attends) and increased slot utilisation.
One case study of the platform in action is a session with a selectively mute patient in the Black Country. The clinician used eClinic to talk to and see the patient, with the patient responding through the chat function. During a CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) session, the clinician shared a visual of the ‘anger iceberg’ which helped the patient to understand and discuss those feelings.
Jonathon Taylor, a clinician at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHNFT), said of the software: “eClinic is a user-friendly platform, which enables me to record sessions and take them to supervision. I really like the chat function and sending attachments within the call, saving the need to email patients with attachments following the session. [I] would definitely recommend to other practitioners and services.”
Healthcare Communications tells us that eClinic helped BCHNFT to dramatically reduce their waiting lists, decrease DNAs by 33%, and gain a patient satisfaction rating at 100% in recorded sessions. In addition to positive staff feedback, this led to a full Trust roll-out after a trial period.
Push Doctor products partner with Plymouth
Push Doctor, a suite of products and an online GP provider that enables remote consultation, told us that 2020 was a year that saw it ‘expand rapidly’.
Facing a growing demand for its services, the company’s priority became supporting its partner, the NHS. Video technology was particularly key to its delivery of care over the last year, with NHS Digital estimating that 40% of GP appointments are still taking place remotely.
In fact, Push Doctor saw a 129% increase in the number of bookings in the first eight months of the year compared with the last eight months of 2019.
One example of its work during the coronavirus pandemic is its partnership with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Plymouth, an area that was identified as ‘underdoctored’.
As the area was apparently struggling to ‘recruit and retain doctors’, Push Doctor ‘plugged a major resource gap’ in the city by providing over 85,000 patients with access to its ‘digital workforce’ of GPs and clinicians. In turn, this reduced waiting times and enabled 15% more appointments to be delivered. And the extra capacity is reportedly freeing up time for GPs to deliver the vaccine.
Alongside setting up a dedicated Covid-19 response team, Push Doctor allowed partners to bulk buy appointments without longer term contracts and brought forward several products, which it made available for free. It also launched an ‘Your Health Matters Too’ initiative that provides free mental health support for GPs and support staff.
While, to combat health tech accessibility issues and inequality, it’s currently trialling a ‘solution’, which provides bookable, sound-proofed video ‘pods’ with computers in community spaces, such as libraries. This will enable patients to have private digital consultations and receive advice from staff on how to use the technology.
Tekihealth Solutions’ “Tekihub” takes care homes by storm
Tekihealth Solutions’ “Tekihub” is a ‘remote diagnostic consultation solution’ for care home residents, which was utilised during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Placed in several care homes across the UK, with a focus on the West Midlands, the software enables clinicians to carry out ‘remote physical examinations of the heart, lung, skin, ears, nose and throat of residents’. This is said to result in reduced unplanned hospital admissions and GP visits. But it is also intended to improve access to care, which the medical technology company says has increased in demand, despite the pandemic.
Tekihealth Solutions, which is led by a team of NHS GPs, says the benefits of its product include:
- Providing remote care via telemedicine, thereby limiting community exposure to COVID-19.
- Allowing GPs to shift general burden away from hospitals, releasing hospital staff to increase their focus on COVID-19.
Where some virtual consultations have limitations, such as the inability to examine the patient or obtain vital signs, Tekihealth says it ‘facilitates the ability to examine patients remotely using state of the art digital technology and strong internet connectivity solutions’.
Its core device is the “Teki-Hub”, a mobile hand-held modular diagnostic device connected to a compact lightweight wireless internet router.
Harnessing 5G technology, it consists of a ‘high-resolution video and still camera, no-touch infrared basal thermometer, stethoscope, otoscope and tongue depressor attachments’. Ancillary devices enable ‘vital sign monitoring such as blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturations. ECG and Spirometry (lung function analysis) can also be obtained’.
One Staffordshire-based GP partner is quoted as saying, “I have found this tech so useful, especially during this pandemic…I have not needed to physically visit any patient. The images are so clear. The feedback from the home has been excellent also.”
The company is also providing devices to vulnerable paediatric patients with chronic conditions such as HIV, leukaemia and cystic fibrosis, as part of a COVID-19 response project funded by Imperial College Healthcare. And its work in the last 10 months has also resulted in grant funding from Innovate UK.
Find out more about the efforts of these three software providers in our HTN Awards 2021 finalists section. Or keep an eye out for the winners announcements from 11am on 22 January, either on our site or via Twitter @health1tech.
