NHS Somerset has begun rolling out telehealth equipment to thousands of its patients as part of a scheme that will allow them to monitor long-term health conditions from home. As part of a three-year, £1.2m contract, 4,000 NHS patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease and diabetes will be able to monitor their health and vital signs remotely. The scheme uses the system from Safe Patient Systems with touchscreen mobile phones programmed with personalised care plans. Each day the phones will prompt patients to answer key questions about their health and will automatically capture their vital physical signs. [Let’s hope Safe Patient Systems has its Bosch patents portfolio base covered.] Telehealth has been used in Somerset for some time, but this is the first time mobile devices have been involved. Some patients have said they prefer using mobile phones instead of the previous Tunstall system which used a ‘box’ located in the living room, GP Dr Sarah Pearce told Guardian Government Computing: Telehealth on mobiles rolling out to thousands of patients in Somerset for more information.
Also see: ‘Give patients smartphones’ call (BBC Scotland)
This is a good step in the right direction – but why a dedicated mobile? There are sandpit apps that can be used on patients’ existing phones.
Safe Patient Systems have always adopted the stance that patient safety is of paramount importance hence the recording and transmitting of any vital patient information should be in a secure environment. Sandpit apps on invdividuals mobile phones cannot guarantee the quality and reliability of data transmission and so at this moment in time we believe that using an ‘end to end’ solution with dedicated smartphone that conforms to ISO 13485 standards provides the most appropriate and secure method for healthcare professionals to monitor patients safely.
Can anyone help in passing on the information as to what ‘add ons’ there are to automatically capture their vital signs.
I have had a look on Safe Patient Systems and I cannot seem to find them.
Sounds like a neat solution. How are the results stored and are they messaged directly to the patients’ GP medical record?
[quote name=”UpNorthtotheright”]Can anyone help in passing on the information as to what ‘add ons’ there are to automatically capture their vital signs.
I have had a look on Safe Patient Systems and I cannot seem to find them.[/quote]
[quote name=”UpNorthtotheright”]Can anyone help in passing on the information as to what ‘add ons’ there are to automatically capture their vital signs.
I have had a look on Safe Patient Systems and I cannot seem to find them.[/quote]
A range of bluetooth enabled peripherals are available for use as part of the Safe Mobile Care solution including: Blood pressure unit, scales, pulse oximeter, peakflow, glucometer, thermometer and 3 lead ECG.
[quote name=”Paul Lewis”]Sounds like a neat solution. How are the results stored and are they messaged directly to the patients’ GP medical record?[/quote]
The results are stored sercurely on an SMC server hosted within the N3 environment and can be easily integrated into existing GP medcial records as required using industry standard interfaces, such as HL7.
Thanks for the reply David.
This might be the most ridiculous of questions but can users/patients use the device as a phone to call people, text or access the magic of the internet?
Makes for very interesting reading ,you may also want to read this: Self-care(COPD) trial stopped due to spike in patient deaths [url]http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/newsarticle-content/-/article_display_list/13949969/self-care-trial-stopped-due-to-spike-in-patient-deaths[/url]
So recruitment and appropriate screening of patients is absolutely essential for such Self-care programmes