Inhealthcare has partnered with NHS Dorset for the launch of Oncology Monitoring @ Home, a remote monitoring service aiming to help patients to manage their symptoms from home along with providing them with self-care advice.
Through the service, patients undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment are supplied with devices such as pulse oximeters and blood pressure monitors. They are asked to submit regular observations for analysis and complete a questionnaire on their symptoms three times a week, with clinicians able to take action if the patient-submitted data falls outside expected parameters.
Oncology Monitoring @ Home uses Inhealthcare’s platform to supply a choice of communication channels including website, mobile app or telephone call to support digital inclusion. Feedback from a 74-year-old cancer patient indicates that the service is “accessible, usable and I’d be grateful to receive it.”
The service is being piloted at Poole Hospital with a potential roll-out across Dorset in the future.
Dr Amélie Harle, oncology consultant and clinical lead for the programme at NHS Dorset, commented: “This innovative system designed by patients and oncology teams should provide patients with early advice at the onset of symptoms to empower a patient to safely manage milder symptoms at home or, when symptoms are more significant, to seek urgent advice from the acute oncology hotline service.
Bryn Sage, chief executive of Inhealthcare, added: “Remote monitoring can enhance care, improve safety and increase quality of life for cancer patients. We’re delighted to be working with NHS Dorset which is using our tried-and-tested technology to help boost health outcomes.”
In other remote monitoring news, in April we heard from Airedale NHS Foundation Trust’s Rachel Binks on the subject of their digital care hub and remote monitoring at scale. Catch up with what Rachel had to say here.
Earlier in the year, we heard bow the Spark Dynamic Purchasing System run by the Crown Commercial Service has been enhanced to include procurement of remote patient monitoring technology, with support from NHS England seeing four new areas added to the framework: virtual wards, continuous monitoring support, long-term condition remote monitoring, and spot monitoring.
