Bradford Teaching Hospitals has shared updates from its Virtual Royal Infirmary (VRI) Programme, which focuses on delivering digital patient education tools across a range of specialties including paediatric surgery and fracture care.
The tools include a paediatric surgery microsite, home to digital resources for parents and children and designed through collaboration with different departments and specialties to help families navigate their paediatric surgery experience. It hosts a range of videos and “what to expect” guides on topics such as arrivals, anaesthetic options, and post-surgery communication, along with introducing the staff involved such as the surgeon, anaesthetist and recovery nurse.
A microsite designed for patients and families preparing for oesophageal or gastric cancer surgery offers video guides explaining chemotherapy services and surgery pathways in detail. It also covers frequently asked questions, recovery duration, wound healing, pain management, and post-surgery bowel function, as well as dietary and lifestyle adjustments to reassure patients “that a good quality of life can be restored”.
Collaboration with the Spiritual, Pastoral and Religious Care (SPaRC) team has resulted in updates to the SPaRC microsite, which was launched last year and provides virtual spiritual and pastoral support. It includes information about different beliefs and self-help resources, along with supporting people to connect with the SPaRC team.
In addition, the VRI Programme offers a virtual fracture clinic, where patients can receive information and support through video guidance. Videos, presented by clinicians, cover pain management, exercise selection, exercise frequency and exercise initiation.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals states that the resources “aim to enhance the experience of patients and empower both patients and their families.”
We spoke with Paul Rice, CDIO for Bradford Teaching Hospitals, back in June, when he shared with us his experiences of working in the digital landscape, and the importance of championing a digitally positive NHS.
Also in digital and online resources, the UK government’s new five-year suicide prevention strategy highlights the value of digital resources, digital therapeutics and opportunities for machine learning and artificial intelligence in prevention.
