Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has announced it will roll-out ISLA imaging technology across north west London, following a successful pilot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams at the hospital, including Dermatology, Burns and Pain Management, worked with health-tech startup ISLA to enable patients to share images of rashes, wounds and other skin conditions with their clinicians – both securely and remotely.
The encrypted visual record can be integrated with other clinical systems and allows healthcare professionals to identify how a condition is changing over time.
Dr Claire Fuller, Consultant Dermatologist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT and Chair of the North West London CRG, said: “Our work with ISLA is a great example of how we are working with digital health partners to benefit our patients. The ISLA team fully understand the realities and needs of image management in clinical practice and how this can transform virtual practice reducing hospital visits for patients.
“We look forward to our ongoing collaboration as we roll-out the technology more broadly across north west London, and hopefully throughout the NHS in the future.”
Peter Hansell, co-founder at ISLA, explained: “Our aim is to provide patients and clinicians with a secure and intuitive way to use visual data as we believe this is key to delivering care in a scalable and convenient way. It’s been fantastic to work with the Chelsea and Westminster team, who have integrated our technology as part of the Trust’s day-to-day systems so quickly, and we look forward to supporting across the north west London region.”
The partnership is part of the CW Innovation programme – a joint initiative between Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT and its charity CW+. Its aim is to ‘test and scale’ innovations and digital systems that improve patient care and experience.
Another goal is to provide more care remotely ‘beyond the four walls of the hospital’. This pilot of innovative imaging technology is one of a number of initiatives and was instigated in response to social distancing requirements and the desire for less hospital footfall over the past year.
The team at Chelsea and Westminster has been quick to embrace digital innovations across the past year especially, with HTN covering several stories on the trust, ranging from a new diabetes app to a digital tool for patients with HIV.
HTN also interviewed Peter Hansell, who gave a demonstration of the ISLA platform and spoke about his hopes for the company and the challenges of managing a start-up.
