Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has launched an app to support cancer patients and their families, providing access to relevant information, guidance, and advice.
The HealthZone UK app, free to download from the Google Play and Apple App Store, has been co-designed by patients, according to Mel Freedman, Macmillan personalised cancer lead at the trust, who said: “Our cancer webpage has been accessed thousands of times in the past year, but we wanted to make it even easier and quicker for people to get the support they need. We asked patients what matters to them to create our app and involved them in co-designing it. What we’ve come up with is a bitesize version of the website.”
The app covers physical and mental health, signposts to local and national charities and groups, and offers advice and guidance on the trust’s prehabilitation provision, the cost of cancer, and more. To access, patients are asked to download the app, before searching for “Northumbria cancer”.
Northumbria Healthcare’s existing cancer information and support webpage offers links to resources for emotional wellbeing, coping with loss and bereavement, and support information for carers.
Wider trend: The role of tech in empowering patients
An expert panel including Tom Davis, UK country manager and medical director at Livi, Dan Bunstone, clinical director at Warrington ICB, and Ananya Datta, associate director of primary care digital delivery at South East London ICS, joined us for a HTN webinar exploring the role of digital in empowering patients. The discussion considered what “good” looks like for digital patient journeys, the ways digital is currently being used to empower patients, the successful use of digital tools in helping patients to take control of their own health, and key challenges around engagement, training, capacity and accessibility.
NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board have launched the women’s health app CONNECTPlus to offer advice and guidance to patients regarding women’s wellbeing. Developed by Health and Care Innovations Ltd, the CONNECTPlus app reportedly answers questions about contraception, the menopause and cervical screening, while offering general women’s health advice around pre-conception care, breast pain, STI screening, pelvic health to information about violence against young girls and women.
The Humber Health Partnership has launched a free app to support women experiencing pelvic health problems during and after pregnancy. Residents can register for and download the “Squeezy” app directly from the partnership’s website, to access support with pelvic floor muscle exercises and advice. On the launch, Humber Health highlights that one in three women experience urinary incontinence three months after pregnancy, and one in 12 report symptoms of pelvic prolapse after giving birth.
The Department of Health and Social Care has detailed functionality planned for the NHS App, designed to provide patients with more choice and control over their own care. An AI tool called “My Companion” is planned, to offer patients access to trusted health information, as well as helping them articulate their health needs and preferences, providing information about their health conditions or upcoming procedures. A “My Choices” feature is also planned, to help signpost patients to services and providers.
