Apps

Chelsea and Westminster launches digital tool for patients with HIV

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has launched a new app, Klick, to digitally connect clinicians and patients as part of its HIV service.

The app supports remote care and communication, to allow patients to manage appointments, complete health assessments, review results and communicate with their healthcare team.

The launch comes as part of the CW Innovation programme led by CW+ and the Trust, and was co-developed by staff at the Kobler Clinic at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and ViiV Healthcare.

Dr David Asboe, Clinical Director for HIV at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT, said: “We have made significant advances in the care of people living with HIV, but this work is not finished. In many regards, it has just begun. Our combined efforts have shifted HIV from an acute to a predominantly long-term condition. This brings its own challenges and responsibilities.

“It is our duty to understand the emerging needs of our patient cohort, to design care that is responsive to these needs, and to provide care in a sustainable fashion. We must achieve these things with a backdrop of the challenges we now also face with COVID-19.

“Health systems are under more pressure than ever and using new technologies in a way that genuinely enables our services to evolve is absolutely critical to ensuring we can continue to improve how we deliver quality care to our patients. The collaboration between the Trust and ViiV Healthcare has provided an opportunity to produce an evidence-based and practical service concept that provides a strong platform on which we can build.”

The launch follows an initial pilot, where the trust found ‘impressive’ results.